C&M Travel Recruitment and C&M Executive Recruitment’s latest Travel Salary Index recorded a 3.91% monthly rise in average pay for new travel roles.

The new record figure - £29,286 – bests the record set in April, when average salaries climbed to £28,382.

Average pay is now up 6.11% since the start of the year and just shy of 5% up on average over the past 12 months.

Moreover, July was the seventh consecutive month where C&M rolling 12-month average came in above 4.5%.

Salaries for standard travel jobs, those paying up to £40,000, also soared a healthy 5.81% in July to £25,471, the largest month-on-month rise since last November - although this is 1.14% down on the figure at the start of the year.

The rolling 12-month average for standard travel jobs, meanwhile, has increased to nearly 4%.

While both candidate and vacancy numbers both fell again in July, the number of new travel jobs that became available in July declined just 1% month-on-month, and the new number of new jobseekers fell only half a percent on the same month last year.

Barbara Kolosinska, Director at C&M Travel Recruitment and C&M Executive Recruitment, said although the market remained staunchly candidate driven, she expected a boost in September following summer peak season.

"The 4% rise in salaries is great to see and it’s very encouraging for the industry because it will potentially tempt some candidates back into the market in search of these excellent pay packages,” said Kolosinska. “But this doesn’t hide the fact that it remains a candidate-driven market, with a continuing lack of quality active jobseekers.

“August always suffers from summer holiday distractions, so activity levels are likely to remain subdued in the final days of this month, but we’re hopeful that we’ll have a much-needed boost when September arrives.”