Tourism in Spain has reached in the second quarter of the year 3.18 million people employed, which represents an advance of 5.4% compared to the same period of the previous year, that is, 162,772 more workers, according to the figures released this Friday by Turespaña.
In these months, jobs linked to tourism have represented 14% of the total employment of the national economy.
The unemployment rate in tourism activities decreased by half a percentage point between April and June, settling at 7.5% of the active population in the sector.
By contractual modality, employees with indefinite contracts increased by 5.7% year-on-year —thus chaining twenty consecutive quarters of growth— and now account for 84.5% of tourist salaried employment.
Employees with temporary contracts rose by 3%. As a result, the rate of temporality in tourism decreased by 0.3 points compared to a year earlier, down to 15.5%, in line with the overall Spanish economy (15.1%).
Regarding working hours, 75.5% of employees carried out their activity full-time, with a year-on-year increase of 5.6%, while 24.5% worked part-time, a segment that grew by 4.2%.
Self-employment also advanced, with a year-on-year increase of 6%, reaching 471,996 professionals, according to Turespaña data.
The number of foreign workers in the tourism sector rose to 793,114 people, representing an increase of 9.4%.
Growth by activity branches
The total number of salaried employees in tourism activities reached 2.71 million, 5.3% more than a year earlier, extending an expansive path of 20 consecutive quarters.
By branches, hospitality increased its salaried workforce by 4.1%, with increases of 9.2% in accommodation services and 2.8% in catering (food and beverages). Passenger transport advanced by 3.9% and the rest of the tourism activities recorded a growth of 12.1%.
In contrast, travel agencies experienced a decrease of 23.4% in the number of salaried employees (and 18.4% in the total number of employed), an adjustment that is explained by the reorganization of the CNAE codes and not by an actual destruction of jobs.
Differences by autonomous communities
Tourist employment increased in 14 autonomous communities, with special prominence of Andalusia, Community of Madrid, Community of Valencia, and Balearic Islands, while it decreased in the remaining three, with significant drops in Catalonia and Canary Islands.
By territories, Ceuta and Melilla (+27.7%), Basque Country (+15.5%), and Balearic Islands (+15.2%) recorded the largest year-on-year increases in tourist occupancy.
On the opposite side, Extremadura recorded the largest decline in employment in the sector, with a -15.3%, followed by Cantabria, where tourist occupancy decreased by 8.5%.