Turespaña data from the EPA for the second quarter of 2022 Tourism accounts for half of all jobs created in the last year

Between April and June, tourism-related activities registered 391,343 more employed people compared to the same quarter of the previous year, representing half of the employment created during the period in the Spanish economy as a whole (776,000), and reaching 2,718,098 employed people, 0.8% more than in the same period of 2019, according to data published today by Turespaña.

To this effect, the number of workers active in tourism in the second quarter of the year was close to three million (2,953,571), 13.8% more than in the same period of the previous year.

With regard to the unemployment rate, tourism-related activities have recorded five consecutive quarters of year-on-year declines and stood at 8%, lower than for the same period of 2019 (11%), and 4.5 points lower than for the national economy, at 12.5%.

"The labour market continues to tell us how robustly the tourism sector is recovering, which is driving the economy and the national labour market. Thus, in a quarter marked by the uncertainties of the economic consequences of the war, the data reflect an excellent performance with very intense and quality job creation", said the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto.

Increase in all activities

Growth occurred among both employees (19.1%) and the self-employed (7.9%) and in all tourism activities. In hotels and restaurants, it increased by 18.5%, due to the positive evolution of both food and beverage services (9.5%) and accommodation services (54.4%). In travel agencies the variation was 12.6%, while in passenger transport it was 7.4%.

The number of employees in the tourism sector with permanent contracts increased by 19.5% year-on-year, the fourth consecutive increase. Furthermore, employees with temporary contracts recorded an increase of 18.1%. In this line, the temporary employment rate in the tourism sector was 26.4%.

Occupation by Autonomous Community

The number of persons employed in tourism grew in almost all the Autonomous Communities, except in La Rioja, Ceuta and Melilla, Asturias and Extremadura.

The six autonomous communities that receive the greatest number of tourists (Catalonia, Andalusia, the Community of Madrid, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and the Community of Valencia) are, in turn, the ones that generate the most jobs in the sector, representing 74.5% of the total number of people employed in the sector.

Unemployed by branch of activity

Unemployed workers linked to tourism activities reached 235,473 in the second quarter of the year. Unemployment decreased in all branches of activity (accommodation services, food and beverage services and other tourism activities) compared to 2019.

Non official translation