The number of Social Security contributors in the tourism sector continued its good trend in the third month of the year. Despite not including Easter, which is celebrated in April this year, March 2025 ended with an increase of 0.9% compared to the same month of the previous year. In this month, contributors linked to tourism activities increased in absolute terms by almost 25,000 people, reaching a total figure of more than 2.7 million workers. In relation to the labour market of the country as a whole - which grew 1.7% year-on-year in March - tourism employment accounted for 13% of the total number of registered workers.
Due to the aforementioned circumstance of Easter, the change in contributors was not positive in all branches of tourism in March. In hotels and catering, the decrease was 13,745 (6,489 in accommodation services and 7,256 in food and beverage services), while in travel agencies, there was an increase of 1,822 workers. In other tourism activities the figure increased by 36,548 workers.
Salaried workers continue to grow
In March, the number of employees in the tourism sector, one of the variables used by the ministry to evaluate the improvement in the quality of tourism employment, increased 1% compared to the same month of the previous year and represents 81.9% of the total number of contributors in the sector. By branch of activity, salaried employment increased in travel agencies and tour operators (up 1.9%) and decreased in hotels and restaurants (down 0.7%), and within the latter, it fell 1.9% in accommodation services and 0.4% in food and beverage services.
Self-employment in tourism, which represents 18.1% of the total number of contributing workers, increased by 0.3 %. In hotels and restaurants, there was a decrease (-0.8%) due to the decrease in food and beverage services (-1%), although in accommodation services there was an increase (0.7%). In travel agencies, there was a 4.7% year-on-year increase in the number of self-employed people.
The Canary Islands, the fastest growing
Employment in hotels and catering and travel agencies and tour operators as a whole increased in March in the Community of Madrid, the Canary Islands, the Basque Country, Ceuta, Melilla and Navarre. In relative terms, the region that grew the most in March was the Canary Islands, with 2.4%. By contrast, in absolute figures, the largest decreases were in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, while in relative terms, the largest decrease was in the Balearic Islands (-6.5%).
Non official translation
