The Spanish authorities have announced that between April and June, tourism-related activities registered 391,343 more people employed compared to the same quarter of 2021.
According to Spain’s national tourism body, Turespana, the figures represent half of the employment created during that period in the Spanish economy as the total of new jobs created reached 776,000. As a result, the country now counts 2,718,098 employed people, or 0.8 per cent more than in the same period of 2019, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
In addition, active workers in tourism in the second quarter of 2022 reached close to three million or 2,953,571, which is 13.8 per cent more than in the same period of the previous year.
“In relation to the unemployment rate, activities related to tourism have chained five consecutive quarters of year-on-year decreases and stood at 8 per cent, a figure lower than that of the same period in 2019 (11 per cent), and 4.5 points less than in the national economy, at 12.5 per cent,” the report reads.
In this regard, the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism said that the labour market continues to show the strength with which the tourism sector is recovering, which leads 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 excellent behaviour with a very intense and quality job creation,” he pointed out.
Based on Turespana’s latest report, the increase occurred in the employed by 19.1 per cent and the self-employed by 7.9 per cent. At the same time, the increase was seen in hospitality by 18.5 per cent, taking into account the positive evolution of both food and beverage services by 9.5 per cent as well as accommodation services by 54.4 per cent.
The figures provided by the same source also show that in travel agencies the variation was 12.6 per cent while in passenger transport it was 7.4 per cent.
From year to year, salaries in the tourism sector with permanent contracts have also increased by 19.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis representing the fourth consecutive increase. Meanwhile, employees with temporary contracts recorded an increase of 18.1 per cent. As a result, the temporary rate in the tourism sector was 26.4 per cent.
The number of people employed in tourism increased in almost all autonomous communities, except for La Rioja, Ceuta and Melilla, Asturias and Extremadura.
The six autonomous communities that have the largest number of tourists, which are Catalonia, Andalusia, Madrid, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and C. Valenciana, are also the ones that generate the most employment in this sector since, together, they represent 74.5 per cent of the total number of employees in the sector.
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