This is a collaborative post.
Exploring new cultures, meeting new people and eating great food, all while making money, probably comes pretty close to what most of us would class as ‘living the dream’.
Whether you dream of ditching your full-time job to live a nomad travel lifestyle or simply just long for a job that enables you to embrace your passion for travel more, here are just a few potential careers for travel lovers to consider.
Travel consultant
Although the 2020 pandemic dealt a massive blow to travel and tourism, things are picking up now, with the UK Government announcing plans to allow fully vaccinated travellers to refrain from isolating upon returning to the UK from amber list countries.
Why not turn your experience and passion for travel into a career? As a travel consultant, you’ll be responsible for coordinating travel engagements for individuals and/or businesses. On average, you could make around £23,524 every year in this role.
Unlike established agencies, it can be pretty tough marketing yourself as a freelance travel consultant. Fortunately, you can leverage many ways to overcome the challenge, however.
For example, you can use social media for low-cost marketing and publicity and educate yourself on SEO so you can ensure your potential customers are able to find your website on Google. Furthermore, you should never underestimate the value of traditional strategies, from online marketing strategies to promotional merchandise.
Travel blogging
The most common ways that travel bloggers make money are through sponsored blog posts and social media content, affiliate advertising and banner advertising.
However, many travel bloggers have discovered alternative new ways to generate an income, such as by selling exclusive e-books, launching paid subscriptions and even offering their services as tour guides.
Tour guide
Although being a tour guide may not seem like a lucrative career at first, millions of tourists visit the UK every year and the average tour guide in the UK makes £21,763 yearly and £11.16 hourly. It’s also worth noting that entry-level positions make a few thousand less than the average, while experienced guides make as much as £30,765 annually.
If you want to become a tour guide, you’ll need to possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills. This is a competitive industry, so you’ll need to be charismatic and accommodating if you really want to make a name for yourself. Additionally, it pays to try and unearth interesting local facts to interest and impress those attending your tours.
Travel blogging can be a lucrative career to consider and it’ll enable you to travel often too. However, you should be aware that it can take a while to establish an online presence, both in terms of your website and/or on social media. Becoming a professional travel blogger won’t happen overnight, so you’ll need to have a side hustle in the meantime.
Travel photographer
This is perhaps one of the most exciting roles to take up as an experienced traveller. Fortunately, some websites, magazines and other artistic establishments thrive on this kind of photography, providing the potential for you to earn more money. You can also set up an online shop on your website to sell your travel photographs to the highest bidder.
A UK company recently advertised a salary for £45,354 ($63,000) for entry-level and experienced travel photographers to discover places of pictorial worth. In its own words, it sought to find ‘Instagrammable’ locations worth the salary. This shows that travel photography is a lucrative business to consider.
This is a collaborative post.