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The best travel jobs are perfect for giving you the flexibility to travel when and where you want while providing a stable income. If you dream of traveling the world but don’t have the money to, working a travel job could be a solution.
Although tourism was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was still a multi-billion dollar industry in 2020. It’s projected to reach 949 billion by 2026.
People are returning back to travel and travel jobs are still desirable to many people. A lot of jobs include travel. There are even jobs that will let you travel worldwide while making a full-time income. Keep reading to discover the best travel jobs.
If you want to find a travel job, start your search on ZipRecruiter! ZipRecruiter is free for job seekers and you can upload your resume to their resume database so that employers and recruiters can find you.
What Is A Travel Job?
A travel job is any job that involves travel. Some examples include:
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Flight attendant
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Consultant
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Travel blogger
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Travel writer
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E-commerce store owner
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Travel nurse
Travel can either be a chief part of the job or part of what goes along with work from time to time.
For example, for flight attendants, travel is a primary part of their job. Flight attendants are flying at least 50% of the time or more, while the remaining part of their time is spent on the ground, preparing and/or cleaning the aircraft and other duties.
In contrast, for a travel nurse, travel is included in their work but it wouldn’t be considered a chief part of their job. The main job they do is nursing and traveling to various locations to perform that work.
Types Of Travel Jobs
There are several types of travel jobs. Let’s look at some of the different kinds of travel jobs that exist:
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Digital nomad
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Remote worker
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Expat
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Backpacker
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Travel industry career goers
Digital Nomads
Digital nomads live where their computer lives. They aren’t chained to a city, state, or region of the world. They live an independent life and earn their living working online from their computer.
A digital nomad can work from a coffee shop, the library, a coworking space, at the beach, poolside at their Airbnb rental, on a plane while traveling around the globe, etc.
This is one of the least restrictive travel jobs that exist. Examples of digital nomads might be travel writers or bloggers.
Remote Workers
Remote workers are people that work remotely, not from an office. Examples include a customer service professional that works for a remote-first company or a remote backend developer that works from home.
Generally, these kinds of jobs have some restrictions in place in terms of where you can live while you’re working for the organization.
For example, some employers might want you to work within 50 miles of the company headquarters or work within the state or set of states where the company operates. Not all remote jobs are like this though, and some let you live and work wherever you want in the world.
Related: Best States For Remote Jobs
Expats
An expatriate or expat is the term to describe someone who is a citizen of one country who lives/works in another country. For example, this could be a U.S. citizen who works in Portugal.
Expat jobs are related to travel if you’re not working in your home country.
So, you might be a U.S. citizen working in China on a work visa. Expats usually live abroad temporarily, for months or years at a time. Examples of ex-pat jobs include:
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Foreign service jobs
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Teachers
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Nannies
Backpackers
Have you heard of high school graduates taking a gap year and backpacking through Europe?
That’s what we’re talking about here when we mention backpackers. These are people that work for travel but not necessarily using a computer or working an online job.
They use their hard skills to find work to fuel their travel endeavors. For example, this could be a street performer that visits major foreign cities in Europe, making enough money to stay in a hostel, have food, and travel money before they move on, backpacking to the next location.
Travel Industry Career Goers
Lastly, travel industry career goers are people that work in the travel industry. This can include travel agents, flight attendants, or tour guides.
7 of the Best Travel Jobs
1. Travel Blogger
Income potential: Travel bloggers can make an average salary of around $63,000/year.
Job duties: Their job duties include writing or creating content around the travel they experience. This could include covering topics around:
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Food
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Entertainment
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Accommodations
A travel blogger gets paid to blog about travel. They might cover the best of what to do at Disney, how to visit Brazil on a budget, or what to do and where to explore when visiting Singapore.
The travel ideas are endless and this is one of the most fruitful, rewarding, and lucrative travel careers that exist.
Bloggers can have multiple income streams and top travel bloggers make up to six or seven figures per year (or more).
Kara and Nate are popular travel creators who have a YouTube channel and blog. In their income reports, they shared they were making up to $120,000+ per quarter back in 2019. That averages to around $40,000/month!
This income has allowed them to visit 100 different countries around the world and vlog their experience!
2. English Teacher
Income potential: The average salary can range from $2,000 to $5,000 per month.
Job duties: You will be teaching English to children in a foreign school environment. Your duties might include creating a lesson plan and curriculum, and creating and grading assignments and exams.
You can teach English overseas at a foreign school. This is an in-demand job with some pretty incredible perks, like a full-time salary and housing stipend.
Many teaching jobs require a college degree and teaching certification so make sure you review the requirements before you set out on this career path.
3. Flight Attendant
Income potential: The average salary for a flight attendant in the U.S. is around $59,987/year.
Job duties: Flight attendant work involves tending to the passengers on a flight. Your job duties might include demonstrating the safety instructions, taking and fulfilling drink and food orders, and providing supplies while in flight like blankets, headphones, or warm towels.
Working as a flight attendant is one of the most competitive travel jobs in the world. The pay is competitive, great benefits, and there are amazing perks like travel around the world.
4. Yacht Sailing Crew
Income potential: The average income ranges from $2,000 to $9,000 per month. The chief and 2nd stewardesses along with the cook tend to earn the most, with junior stewardesses and deckhands earning on the lower end of that range.
Job duties: If you’re working as a stewardess, you’ll have a job role similar to a server or flight attendant. You will tend to the guest’s needs, serving food, cleaning their room, and entertaining them while deckhands are responsible for keeping the ship clean and being an aid to the yacht captain.
People charter yachts to sail the ocean for entertainment. The crew and service staff are working a travel job. They get to travel to the various locations the yacht sails to and earn a full-time income while living and working on the vessel.
5. Tour Guide
Income potential: Tour guides make an average salary of $33,187/year.
Job duties: Show clients the best of the city including touring local restaurants, bars, entertainment spots, and more.
Tour guides help tourists get the best out of their stay by showing them the best of a city or area.
Tour guides may take their clients to the best local restaurants and bars in town, show them historic neighborhoods, educate them about the area, reveal locals-only hang-out spots, and more. Their job is to help their client have a great time during their stay in that area.
This can be a very lucrative profession and if you’re good at traveling to a new place and getting to know the area well enough to show others, working as a local tour guide might be for you.
6. Hostel Worker
Income potential: The average income for a hostel worker is $42,316/year.
Job duties: Your job duties could include:
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Helping guests check-in and check out
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Managing reservations
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Organizing cleaning staff and management of the hostel
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Providing customer service
Hostels are low-cost living quarters, kind of like hotels. They are meant to be community-based so you can mingle with other travelers. They are also common for college kids and some hostels exist for student youth only.
A hostel worker is someone who works the front desk. They check in guests and provide customer service.
While hostels originated in Europe, there are hostels around the world, including in the U.S. Working at hostels including hostel chains allows you to travel while holding a job.
7. Freelance Travel Writer
Income potential: The average income for a travel writer is $73,260/year.
Job duties: Your job duties will include research, writing a draft, proofreading, and editing your work in preparation for publication.
This is similar to work you might do as a travel blogger except, instead of writing for your own blog, you will be writing for your freelance clients (i.e. magazines, publications, etc.).
If you have writing skills, this is a relatively easy profession to break into. You can work as a food and travel writer, traveling the world, writing for publications about your travel experiences.
Related: Remote Work Tips
Where To Find Travel Jobs
ZipRecruiter
ZipRecruiter is one of the top career search engines online, hosting millions of jobs. To find your dream travel job, use ZipRecruiter to locate careers in the industry you want to work in.
It’s easy to use and you can filter results by salary, employment type, and more, to refine your search results. For more information, read our ZipRecruiter review.
Indeed
Indeed is a free job search tool that will help you find jobs in virtually any industry, including travel. They have additional tools to help you like resumes, company reviews, and more.
For more information, read our Indeed review.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor is one of the only job search websites that provide true pay transparency. You can see what other employees are earning, look at company reviews and ratings, and search for jobs in travel and other fields.
For more information, read our Glassdoor review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which jobs are best if I want to travel?
The best jobs for traveling are remote jobs that let you live and work from anywhere. Running your own online business is also a good option to give you the flexibility to travel, like working as a publicist, travel blogger, or travel writer.
What traveling jobs pay the most?
High paying travel jobs that pay the most include:
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Airline pilot
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Travel sales
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Hotel manager
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Cruise ship director
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Travel publicist
When applying for travel jobs, make sure you review your cover letter and resume. Here are some of the best resume writing services to check out.
What jobs will pay you to travel?
Jobs that pay you to travel include some professions in the travel industry like airline pilot, flight attendant, yacht sailing crew, cruise ship staff, etc. Jobs that require you to travel to meet clients, conduct presentations or work one-on-one with clients around the world also pay you to travel like sales positions and consultants.
Can traveling be a job?
Yes, traveling can be a job. If you love travel, there are many ways you can make a living with travel.
For example, travel blogging can be a lucrative profession to pursue that gives you the freedom and flexibility to travel when and where you wish, while paying you.
The Bottom Line
One of the best ways to make money traveling is becoming a freelancer. Freelancing allows you to monetize your skills and work with clients on projects throughout the year, which can support your travel lifestyle. To learn more, read about how to become a freelancer.
To pursue a travel career, start your job search on ZipRecruiter.