The number of workers in the tourism sector has risen 3.5% and is now close to 3 million employed

Tourism employment in the second quarter of 2024 continued to rise and is close to 3 million employed (2,965,784 in exact figures), which represents an increase of 3.5% compared to the same period in 2023, according to data published by Turespaña.

Between April and June 2024, tourism-related activities recorded 101,008 more employees than in the same quarter of the previous year. Employees in the tourism sector in this quarter accounted for 13.7% of total employment in the Spanish economy. The number of workers active in tourism in the second quarter of the year exceeded three million (3,264,381), 4.3% more than in the same period of 2023.

The percentage of unemployed people over the active population in tourism activities was 9.1%. The unemployment rate in tourism activities is still below the unemployment rate of the national economy (11.3%).

Employment growth in all branches

In this second quarter, the main tourism activities have experienced growth. Hotels and restaurants increased by 4%, due to positive developments in both food and beverage services (3.5%) and accommodation services (5.3%). The year-on-year change was 8.6% in passenger transport and 8% in travel agencies.

The main growth in the second quarter was among wage earners (3.9% increase), which in absolute terms rose to 2,474,024. There was also an increase in the numbers of salaried employees in passenger transport (7.2%) and hotels and restaurants (5.2%). Furthermore, the number of employees in the tourism sector with permanent contracts (83.9%), one of the variables that point to the improvement in the quality of employment in the sector, has increased by 8.4%, which is the twelfth consecutive increase. Furthermore, employees with temporary contracts recorded a decrease of 14.5%. The employment rate has therefore increased 0.3% year-on-year to 83.4%.

Temporary employment rate falls

The temporary employment rate in the tourism sector was 16.1%, a lower figure than for the same period of the previous year (19.6%). Thus, the temporary employment rate in the tourism sector is practically at the same level as the temporary employment rate for the national economy as a whole, which is 16%.

In terms of working hours, full-time employees accounted for 75.2% of all employees, a 4.4% increase. The percentage of self-employed workers increased by 1.8% compared to the same period in 2023, reaching 491,155 workers in this group.

Valencia, the fastest growing region

The autonomous communities that recorded the highest number of employed people from April to June were Catalonia (523,569 employed people and a year-on-year growth of 7.4%), Madrid (461,196, and an increase of 4.8%), Andalusia (470,956, and a growth of 3.7%) and Valencia (312,714, and an increase of 11.8% compared to the same period in 2023).

In this period, the number of people employed grew in all Autonomous Communities except the Canary Islands, Galicia, the Basque Country, Murcia, Navarre, La Rioja (with the largest decrease: 22.8%), Ceuta and Melilla. On the other hand, the Autonomous Communities where the number of people employed grew the most were Valencia, with an increase of 11.8% year-on-year, and Asturias, with a rise of 11.3%.

Non official translation