July adds more than 97,000 new contributors in the tourism sector, with growth of 3.5%

The number of Social Security contributors in the tourism sector continues to show positive data and continuous growth. In July, contributors linked to tourism activities increased in absolute terms by 97,282, reaching a total of 2,904,908 workers. This represents an increase of 3.5% over the same month last year. In relation to the labour market of the country as a whole, tourism employment accounts for 13.7% of the total.

The change in contributor numbers was positive in all branches of tourism in July. In hotels and catering, the increase was 52,383 contributors (19,288 in accommodation services and 33,095 in food and beverage services), and in travel agencies and tour operators it reached 3,971 workers. Other tourism activities also recorded an overall increase of 40,928 employees.

The rise in the number of wage earners continues

In July, the number of employees in the tourism sector increased 4% compared to the same month of the previous year, representing 82.5% of the total number of contributors in this sector. By branch of activity, salaried employment increased in tour operators (5.7%) and in hotels and restaurants (3.3%).

Self-employment in tourism, which represents 17.5% of the total number of contributing workers, increased by 1 %. In travel agencies, a year-on-year increase of 6.5% was observed, while in the hotel and catering business the number of self-employed people decreased slightly (-0.1%).

The Canary Islands and Madrid, the fastest-growing regions

In July, employment in hotels and catering and travel agencies and tour operators as a whole increased in all the Autonomous Regions except in Extremadura and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. In relative terms, the year-on-year increases in the Canary Islands (4.7%) and the Community of Madrid (3.9%) stand out.

In absolute terms, the largest increase was in Andalusia (11,171 more contributors), followed by the Community of Madrid (8,815 new contributors), Catalonia (with an increase of 7,923 contributors) and the Community of Valencia (7,632 new contributors).

Non official translation