Travel’s pay gap between men and women bigger than ever

A shocking new report into the gender salary gap in the travel and hospitality industry has shown that not only is the gap still there between men and women, but it could be getting bigger.

ACI HR Solutions released the 2017 ‘Salary & Employment Trends Report’, shows that female executives in the tourism business are doing top jobs in bringing professional equality to their workplace, but sadly, their male counterparts continue to bring home more bacon.

ACI Founder & CEO, Andrew Chan, said while the subject of equality remains a hot topic and bridging the gap is still top priority, the disparity between male and female salaries continues to widen.

“Surprisingly, given the amount of discussion and coverage professional equality receives, and some of our clients having wonderful initiatives implemented, not only have we not seen the gap narrow, but over the past three years we have actually seen it widen from 48 per cent in 2015 to 55 per cent in 2016,” Chan said.

“While the gap appears large, drilled down the 55 per cent isn’t a position vs position gap – the 55 per cent represented our overall survey, which actually highlights the disparity in the number of women holding senior positions.

“The graph that best describes this in the report is the one that indicates the age of respondents by gender showing far less female respondents as the age group increases.

“This ultimately shows us, irrespective of the salary component, there are far less females holding senior positions across these industry sectors in roles such as general managers and CEOs.”

The report is in its fifth year, and speaks to respondents from the front line in travel sales, to CEOs and managing directors to try and get a holistic picture of the industry’s salaries.

The report showed degree holders earn an average of seven per cent more than diploma holders, while master degree holders earn 25 per cent more.

On a positive note, however, the report did in fact find stacks of optimism in the various aspects of the industries, with 40 per cent of hiring managers saying they expect a bunch of new and spritely employees in 2017.

From the perspective of salary satisfaction, 60 per cent of respondents indicated they had received some form of pay increase. Sadly, this figure has plummeted from the 2016 result when 77 per cent of respondents indicated a bump in pay.

Respondents were also asked for their salary expectations if considering a new job offer, and the report showed 56 per cent of respondents are holding out for a salary boost of 10 per cent or more, which is down from 67 per cent surveyed in 2016.

Career progression remains extremely important to those surveyed as well, with 64 per cent confirming this, while 29 per cent indicated their career prospects with their current employers were ‘low’ and even ‘zero’.