Make it rain! Travel Agents had a little extra ‘money, money, money’ on their hands last year with a 9.2 percent increase in their base salaries.
According to C&M Travel Recruitment’s salary benchmarking analysis for 2016, Junior Travel Consultants are now earning before incentives between $40,000-$45,000; while Intermediate Travel Consultants are walking away with $44,000-$52,000; and Senior Travel Consultants with $55,000-$65,000.
Assistant Managers and Team Leaders are filling their wallets with around $55,000-$70,000 and Branch Managers are bringing in some $70,000-$90,000.
But where there’s good news, there’s a touch of bad – or as Biggie puts it ‘mo money, mo problems’ – and in the Agents’ case that means more money, more work.
According to the study the base salary increase has emerged from a shortage of consultants and experienced Agents.
C&M said employers have a “growing need for experienced retail travel consultants” and are willing to pay a little extra to keep them around (some are even thanking them for their loyalty with Diamonds – actual Diamonds).
Meanwhile, other sectors with growth included online travel and marketing with both having an increase of roughly eight percent.
For example, an Online Travel company’s Marketing Co-ordinator/Support is earning between $58,000-$64,000 while Head of Sales/Product/Marketing is earning some $125,000-$146,000.
Meanwhile, wholesale travel has seen a plateau in most roles and the role of a ‘wholesale travel consultant’ has changed over the last 12 months to include a mix of direct bookings with wholesale roles.