Whilst women are the majority gender employed in the travel industry, a surprising amount of them are still missing out on scoring top executive positions according to a new report.
The findings are part of a study by C&M Travel Recruitment that showed even with females making up 64 percent of travel job placements in the UK in the first half of 2018, they only took up 25 percent of all executive positions.
Director at C&M Travel Recruitment Barbara Kolosinska said it was a disappointing reality that men significantly outnumbered women in high profile jobs within the travel industry.
“This has to change and I’m sure it will over time, but among other things it will take a concerted effort from the current crop of female travel leaders to ensure they are role models and examples for the next generation to follow.”
Director at C&M Travel Recruitment Barbara Kolosinska
Although the study was based on the tourism industry in the UK, it’s not hard to see the same inequality occurring Down Under, where only one of four major local airlines (Tigeriar) is run by a female and only two of six cruise brands operating out of Australia are run by women (Carnival Cruise Lines and more recently, Royal Caribbean).
In trade, all agency groups are headed up by men except Travel Counsellors, which recently appointed Kaylene Shuttlewood as Regional Managing Director.
It’s not all bad news though, as the gender pay gap in travel is actually less pronounced than in other industries.
C&M found females in entry-level travel roles earned an average of £18,487 (AU$32,958) per year, 2.2 percent lower less than the average male.
Women senior positions earned an average of £32,375 (AU$57,717), 1.3 percent lower than men in similar positions.
While the pay gap may be low, it still exists. And that just isn’t right.
Although curiously, the study showed females in mid-level roles out-earned their male equivalents by 0.56 percent with an average salary of £25,760 (AU$45,924).
There was very little difference in salaries for those placed in new executive roles, with men earning an average of £50,771 (AU$90,513) in 2018, which was just 0.11 percent or £54 (AU$96) more than their female counterparts.
Kolosinska said these figures were a promising sign that the travel industry was on its way to eliminating the gender pay gap for executive positions.
“However, until we see these wage discrepancies consistently eliminated across all levels of the industry, more work needs to be done,” she said.
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