2019 closes with creation of 93,850 jobs in tourism sector, a rise of 3.6%

The number of people working in the tourism sector accounts for 13.4% of all jobs in the Spanish economy, while the unemployment rate stands at 12.1%, lower than the national average of 13.8%, thus indicating that the outlook for work is improving in the Spanish tourism sector.

The State Secretary for Tourism, Isabel Oliver, positively assesses the fact that "tourism is consolidating its position each month as the main driver of job creation, with increasingly higher quality jobs, as can be seen in the increase in the number of permanent employment contracts registered and in full-time jobs. The government will continue to work along these lines to ensure greater job stability, better conditions, security and training".

Particularly noteworthy in the fourth quarter is the higher quality of jobs in the tourism sector, with an increase in permanent employment contracts of 10.2% - 68% of all contracts - while workers on temporary contracts dropped by 3.1%.

In terms of the working day, the number of full-time workers increased by 5.2% and account for 73.5% of the total, while the number of part-time workers increased by 6.4%.

By region

The autonomous regions to receive the highest number of tourists - Catalonia, Andalusia, the Region of Madrid, the Canary Islands and the Region of Valencia - are, in turn, those that provide the highest number of jobs in the sector, accounting for 74.6% of all jobs in tourism in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Those regions to see the largest increases in jobs in tourism are La Rioja (up 21.8%), Asturias (up 12.7%) and Andalusia (up 11.7%), while Murcia, Castile-La Mancha and Extremadura saw the number of workers in the sector decrease most on the same quarter of the previous year.

Non official translation