14 Best Travel Jobs to Make Money Traveling in 2023

The best travel jobs allow you to make an income doing what you love while not being restricted to one location.

It’s tough to get a reprieve from your 9 to 5 job. Sadly, most people only get two weeks off in a year, which doesn’t leave much room for traveling. And business travel can help to see new places, but it’s tough to travel for an extended period of time.

However, there are plenty of travel job opportunities available online that can help you earn a decent wage while traveling the world.

In 2019, I launched this blog, left my full-time job within six months, began traveling the world, and now make over $74,000/month from this blog as you can see in my Blog Income Reports.

I want to help you find your own path to world travel as well.

Whether it is landing a remote, location-independent job or finding opportunities in exchange for accommodation — there are more options now than ever before. It depends on your preference and skillset which type of travel job you find success in.

Let’s get started.

What Are the Best Travel Jobs?

Most of the travelers start without a long-term plan. It’s a long journey, and you will eventually discover the right path along the way and identify which type of travel job aligns the best with your goals.

For instance, if you want to live in a foreign country and at the same time craves the safety that comes with having a permanent job, searching for an ex-pat travel job might be best.

Here are some of the best travel jobs for different skill-sets, backgrounds, and comfort levels that will help you make money traveling.

1. Become a Travel Blogger.

Income Range: $100 to $30,000+ per month.

Travel blogging is a dream job for many. Imagine earning money by writing about your travel adventures.

There’s one problem, however.

The internet is inundated with hundreds and thousands of travel blogs. Almost all of them talk about their travel adventures, put together itineraries, and post photos that are enough to make everyone envious. That’s why you have to do something different to stand out from the crowd.

Don’t dive head-deep into it without proper research.

Before starting your travel blog, read other blogs, news, and journals to get an idea of the writing style a travel blogger or reviewer needs.

Then, find a specific niche. Are you going to write about budget traveling? Luxury traveling? Are you traveling with kids? Become an affiliate for travel and airline credit cards?

Then get to writing in-depth and actionable blog posts about the subject matter.

Most bloggers give up easily. But consistency, generating backlinks by guest-posting and building connections with famous travel bloggers, promoting your content extensively will help you build an audience for your blog.

Once you have decent traffic, you can make money by incorporating affiliate links in your content, selling digital products, or working directly with travel agencies. First, put in the hard work to build an audience.

Check out my epic 15,000+ word on how to start a money-making blog this year.

To get started as a blogger, sign up for web hosting and get started with a company like Bluehost for just $2.95/month via my affiliate link.

2. Become an English Teacher.

Income Range: $14 to $22 per hour or $1,000 to $3,000 per month.

English teachers are always in demand across the world as English is one of the most sought-after second languages in the world. You have an option to teach English online or internationally in the country you visit.

There are many portals on the internet that allow you to find clients/students willing to learn English online.

You can register with VIPKID to take your English teaching career online.

With platforms such as VIPKID, you can earn up to $22 per hour along with several incentives, referrals, and other great opportunities.

If you want to teach English online via Skype or other mediums, a bachelor’s degree or graduate degree is more than sufficient. However, to seek foreign-based English teaching jobs, TEFL certification (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) is often a prerequisite.

3. Travel Freelance Writer.

Income Range: $0.10 to $1.00 per word.

If you mastered the art of weaving stories and playing with words, travel freelance writing is a perfect way to earn money while fulfilling your wanderlust.

It’s simple — travel to your favorite destinations in the world, write about them, and get paid in the process. You can either become a ghost-writer or contribute as an author in magazines, tourism boards, guidebooks, and more.

To get better writing jobs, grow your network using social media and online forums.

You can also sign up for a service like FlexJobs to start your job search and find travel writing jobs.

Consider building credibility by starting your blog, which will also serve as your travel writing portfolio.

Check out the FlexJobs job boards for writing opportunities that can give you travel experience.

4. Website & Graphic Design.

Income Range: $1,000 to $8,000 per month.

Website and graphic designers are always in demand. All you need is solid coding skills (specifically HTML, PHP, and CSS), knowledge of Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, etc., and of course, your computer and a proper internet connection. Having an eye for design and aesthetics will give you an edge in the industry.

Here are some of the most popular online platforms to take website & graphic design courses:

• Codecademy
• Coursera
• Udacity
• Udemy
• Edx

Find jobs in web and graphic design with FlexJobs.

5. Travel Tour Guide.

Income Range: $1,000 to $10,000 per month.

If you have extensive knowledge of various tourist destinations across the world, then put it to use by becoming a travel tour guide.

It is an excellent opportunity to travel around the world while sharing your knowledge with cool people and getting paid while you are at it.

If you already have substantial experience of 2-3 years or if you manage to get a tourist guide license, then tapping into this industry will be easy. There are plenty of travel guide training programs like the International Tour Management Institute (ITMI) that will make it easy for you to become a travel guide. You not only receive professional training but also get to connect with viable tourist companies.

Otherwise, you can start by building your blog and publishing your tour guides to grow an audience first.

6. Traveling Yoga Instructor.

Income Range: $30 to $100+ per hour.

The significance of Yoga continues to grow around the world.

Take a look at these impressive statistics about Yoga:

These are some hefty numbers.

No wonder, Yoga instructors are highly sought after.

A great advantage is that it pays you a decent amount, more than enough to help you in your travel endeavors.

You don’t have to restrict yourself to teaching Yoga. Take classes on pilates, Zumba, or become a personal trainer if that’s your thing.

To find success in your career as a traveling Yoga instructor, become a certified instructor or trainer. Once you become a registered instructor, start networking with local gyms, hostels, or five-star hotels across the world to use their gym facilities to conduct your training classes.

7. Foreign Service Travel Jobs.

Income Range: $500 to $10,000 per month.

Foreign service travel jobs allow you to get immersed in a new culture and live like a local for months or even years.

This job requires you to work for diplomats, your country’s embassies abroad or an intergovernmental organization (IGO). You need to have a graduate degree, and working knowledge of foreign languages helps you land this gig more easily. The competition is fierce, and you might even be expected to take several aptitude tests conducted by your state department.

Remember, you have little or no say in the location(s) you will be placed. But as your clout and experience increases, you might be allowed to make such decisions for your future placement.

8. Travel Agent.

Income Range: $3,000 to $6,000 per month.

You might be surprised to know how many people hate hunting for accommodations, cheap tickets, and making other complex travel arrangements. This is where travel agents come into play.

If you have a knack for making itineraries, then you can either work as an independent travel agent or work for a prominent travel agency. As a travel agent, you will be responsible for organizing pretty much everything, including lodging, transportation, advice on tourist destinations, and more.

Keep in mind that this job requires in-depth knowledge of the tourist destinations whose packages you’re selling. You also must become well versed in travel management tools so that you can book trips and collect payments from your clients in one place.

9. Dropshipping.

Income Range: Up to $100,000 per year.

Dropshipping is like running a traditional e-commerce store, but part-time and without worrying about managing an inventory, shipping, or warehousing.

Here’s a complete breakdown of how dropshipping works:

Primarily, you work as a third-party salesman or middleman between the consumer and the actual supplier.

Websites like Amazon allow you to market the product on their platform, and you arrange to ship the product to the customer once they make the final purchase. A benefit to dropshipping is you don’t have to handle products yourself.

10. Freelance Travel Photographer.

Income Range: $1,000 to $10,000 per month.

If you love taking pictures, this job could be right up your alley. Although travel photography is not as easy as it seems, if you are proficient with a camera, you can do wonders at this job.

Use proper equipment to increase the quality of your photographs, including:

• A good-quality DSLR (Canon and Nikon are great options)
• A wide of range of lenses, such as a wide-angle and high-power zoom
• A tripod for better stability
• A remote shutter

Aside from the equipment, learn how to use post-processing and editing software like Adobe Lightroom to make your photographs even more aesthetically appealing.

To make money from your photography skills, you can upload photos to stock photo sites, or sell them directly to magazines, marketing campaigns, and tourism websites.

11. Airbnb Renter.

Income Range: $100 to $5,000+ per month.

If you travel a lot and own a property, you might as well rent it out to short-term occupants. Airbnb makes it decidedly easy and safe to rent your property to tenants.

A comfortable house located in a tourist location naturally brings in a lot of money. A quaint lodge with everyday amenities and serene atmosphere could also bring in a lot of tenants, earning you enough money to cover your next trip.

Get started as an Airbnb host.

12. Freelance Computer Programmer.

Income Range: $3,000 to $10,000 per month.

If you spend your time as a professional programmer, then your skills should help you easily find remote clients.

There are plenty of websites where you can find clients willing to pay a decent amount for your freelance services, including:

• Toptal
• Upwork
• Fiverr
• Guru
• Craigslist

On the other hand, if you want to solidify your programming skills and learn new programming languages, you can follow plenty of YouTube channels such as TheNewBoston. Or you could sign up with platforms like Codecademy, Coursera, Udacity, and more.

Find freelance computer programming jobs with FlexJobs.

13. Vlogger/YouTuber.

Income Range: $1,000 to $20,000 per month.

The most successful vloggers and YouTubers today share similar traits. They have a great personality in front of the camera, video editing skills, that quaffed, gravity-defying hair, and an ardent following of seemingly endless followers.

However, with the immense competition today, these skills are not enough to make you a successful vlogger. Ultimately, it’s three secret weapons – weekly consistency, YouTube keyword research, and being inbound marketing savvy outside of YouTube.

If you can master these three elements, you pull in more traffic than the quaffed haired stars and build real view counts from your tactical YouTube SEO in 2020.

14. Traveling Medical Professional.

Income Range: $30 to $40 per hour.

If you are a trained nurse, doctor, physician, etc., transitioning your regular job into a travel job would be easy. Taking up this job usually means that you have to stay put in one place for a designated time as International assignments tend to last 1-2 years.

Also, depending upon your destination and the type of job, these jobs come with extra perks such as free housing, tax-free income, and more. You can connect with medical staff agencies to help you land a great job that aligns with your skills and work experience.

What Job Categories Allow You to Travel?

Before you take the next step, it is crucial to understand the different categories of travel jobs available out there. They often come in four categories — Expat traveling jobs, backpacker jobs, digital nomad jobs, and travel industry careers.

1. Expat Traveling Jobs.

Expats (or “expatriates”) live outside their native country and work abroad for an extended time. You will settle down in a foreign country for months or years on end and “live like a local.” Expat traveling jobs can last from a couple of months to years.

Usual expat traveling jobs include foreign service jobs, English teacher, etc.

2. Digital Nomad Jobs.

As the name suggests, digital nomad jobs allow you to come and go as you please and live like an ultimate nomad. To become a digital nomad, all you require is a reliable internet connection, a smartphone, and a stable computer system.

These jobs are done entirely online from anywhere in the world.

Examples: Blogging, freelance writing, c-commerce, social media consulting, etc.

3. Backpacker Jobs.

Backpacker jobs or vagabond jobs are hands-on travel jobs and can be done while moving from one destination to the other. In most cases, you don’t even require a graduate degree to get hired for these jobs. Think blue-collar jobs, artists, etc.

Examples: Farm work, volunteering, hostel workers, street vendors, musician, etc.

4. Travel Industry Careers.

Whereas the other three types of travel jobs require you to earn your paycheck by doing a specific job, travel industry jobs pay you to travel. It sounds like a dream, right? There’s one downside, however. With travel industry jobs, you won’t be independent to come and go as you please, and the flexibility to explore each destination will be limited.

Travel Industry jobs include flight attendants, travel agents, cruise ship employees, au pairs, travel nurses, tour guides, etc.

5. Travel Officers and Volunteers.

If money isn’t a concern and you want to make a difference, International volunteering is an excellent option. You could join the Peace Corps or find a travel nursing job to make a real impact in the world.

If becoming an international diplomat is more on your level, you may enjoy a career as a Foreign Service Officer. You would work in embassies and consulates “to promote peace, support prosperity, and protect American citizens while advancing the interests of the U.S. abroad.”

6. Tourism Jobs.

Whether you want to live in Europe, Australia, Mexico, America, or any other country, tourism jobs provide a full-time income in popular vacation destinations.

Take an entry-level bartending job on a cruise ship or in Hawaii. Teach scuba lessons in Mexico or private lessons at a ski resort in Colorado. Join a tour company to provide tourists a great travel experience.

Whatever you choose, you can find jobs in all kinds of tourism companies.

Travel Jobs in 2020 – Tour’s Up!

All the travel jobs mentioned above offer excellent opportunities to earn money while traveling around the world. However, as you can see, most of these jobs require perseverance, a substantial commitment, and some prior skills and experience.

While a lot of travelers make a living on the road, it doesn’t happen overnight.

So without any further ado, pick up a travel job that matches your skills, and chase your dream of becoming a full-time traveler.

Recommended Resources on AdamEnfroy.com: Check out my articles on the best online work from home jobs, becoming a digital nomad, and the best ways how to make money online.