The customer service professionals saw an annual increase of more than 8% - with an average starting salary of £18,009 compared with £16,633 at the start of last year.
The cash boost for the position was felt across the country with salaries rising by just under 9% in the south of the UK to £18,666 and by more than 7% in the north to £17,271.
There were also 6% year-on-year wage rises for account managers making the average salary £29,800, while operations executives received a boost of 4% to £23,675 and marketing executives a 3% gain to £26,000.
Travel consultants also saw a modest upturn of 0.16%, taking wages up to £15,894.
The study focused on roles placed through C&M in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the same period in the previous year.
Despite the increases some industry positions did suffer a shortfall with reservations consultants taking a hit of 3% to £17,567 and business travel consultants a 2% decrease to £21,133.
Travel managers also faced a downsize in the first three months of the year with a dip of 0.63% taking the average salary to £33,890 as well as business development managers experiencing a decrease of less than 1% to £34,500.
Analysing the figures, Barbara Kolosinska, director at C&M Travel Recruitment and C&M Executive Recruitment, said: “With big year-on-year wage increases, it’s clearly a great time to be looking for a new job in the travel industry as an account manager, customer service agent, marketing executive, travel consultant or operations executive.
“What’s particularly interesting is that salaries are increasing faster in the north than in the south for various roles including travel consultants and business travel consultants, and this could prove to be a real motivation for many people thinking about beginning their job search.”
