Spain, a country of sun and sand: one in four jobs is created by tourism
Employment in tourism-related activities in Spain increased by 5.4% in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2022, to 2,864,776 employed (146,678 more), which is 6.3% higher than in 2019, according to data published on Wednesday by Turespaña.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Héctor Gómez, has described these data as “extraordinary” and stressed in an interview with RTVE that the tourism sector “is pulling the country’s economy”, which makes Spain a country of sun and beach, with less and less relevance every day in the industrial or technological sector.
Thus, one out of every four new jobs created in Spain between April and June (589,000 more employed) is linked to tourism (24.9%), which together make up 13.6% of total employment in the Spanish economy.
Gómez described as “magnificent” the evolution of the sector, which offers, he said, “job stability”.
According to Turespaña, the percentage of unemployed people out of those active in tourism activities was 8.5 % in the second quarter, which is half a percentage point higher than in the same quarter of the previous year.
This is explained by the increase in the active population in the sector, which, according to the report, is the result of four consecutive quarters of increases in the year-on-year rate.
The number of employed persons in Tourism grows in all areas
The number of employed persons increased in all tourism activities in the second quarter, except in other activities, which decreased by 0.8 %.
In hotels and restaurants the increase was 7.1 %, due to the positive evolution of both food and beverage services (up 7.1 %) and accommodation services (up 7.2 %).
Employment in travel agencies grew by 0.4 %, while in passenger transport the increase was 10.8 %.
Employees in the sector in the period analysed totalled 2,381,684 persons (83.2 % of the total number of employed persons), 2.1 % more than in the same quarter of 2022, while the number of self-employed persons stood at 482,388 persons, 6 % less.
With regard to the type of contract, employees in the tourism sector with an indefinite employment relationship (80.4 %) increased by 18.1 % in the second quarter, representing the eighth consecutive rise in the year-on-year rate, while employees with a temporary contract decreased by 19.9 %.
With regard to the issuing markets, the Tourism Minister highlighted the “consolidation” of the European market and the “great growth” in spending at the destination.
Héctor Gómez also mentioned air connectivity as one of the keys to the influx of tourists, especially in the Asian and American markets.
According to the data he provided, the Asian and Chinese markets grew by more than 420% during the year compared to a year earlier, while he put the increase in the flow of American tourists at around 60%.
Catalonia, leader by region
By autonomous communities, employment in Catalonia grew by 7.2 % in the second quarter, with a figure of 487,314 people employed in the tourism sector, the highest of all the regions.
The highest year-on-year rate in the period was in Galicia, with a rise of 18.3 % (130,061 workers), followed by the Balearic Islands (18.1 % more and 202,157 employees).
By volume of employees in the sector, after Catalonia came Andalusia (454,304 people, 3.4 % more in the second quarter) and Madrid (440,033 jobs, 3.7 % more).
The number of employed persons in the second quarter fell in the interannual rate only in the Valencian Community (4 %), Castile and Leon (10.9 %), Aragon (3.4 %) and Cantabria (1.1 %).
In the economy as a whole, the number of employed persons grew favourably in all the Autonomous Communities, except in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
