Spain’s tourism employment rises 5.4% to 3.19 million

International

The sector added almost 163,000 workers in the second quarter of 2026, while permanent contracts continued to increase and foreign employment grew by 9.4%

Employment in Spain’s tourism industry continued to expand in the second quarter of 2026. Between April and June, 3,187,119 people were employed in tourism-related activities, 5.4% more than a year earlier, according to figures published by Turespaña.

The sector added 162,772 workers compared with the second quarter of 2025 and accounted for 14% of total employment in the Spanish economy. At the same time, unemployment among the tourism labour force fell to 7.5%, down 0.5 percentage points year on year.

Hospitality employment continues to expand

Most major tourism segments recorded employment growth. Hospitality increased its workforce by 4.5%, driven by a 9.2% rise in accommodation services and 2.8% growth in food and beverage services.

Travel agencies recorded an 18.4% decline. According to Turespaña, however, this does not directly reflect actual job losses but is largely related to changes in Spain’s CNAE classification system.

The number of salaried tourism workers reached 2,715,123, up 5.3% year on year and marking the 21st consecutive quarter of annual growth. Employment increased by 3.9% in passenger transport, 4.1% in hospitality and 12.1% in other tourism activities.

Foreign workers are playing an increasingly important role in the sector. Their number rose by 9.4% to 793,114 during the quarter.

Permanent contracts reach 84.5%

The shift towards more stable employment also continued. Employees with permanent contracts accounted for 84.5% of the tourism workforce, with their number increasing by 5.7% compared with the previous year. This was the 20th consecutive quarter of growth.

Temporary employment increased by 3%, but its share of salaried tourism employment declined by 0.3 percentage points to 15.5%. Across the Spanish economy as a whole, the temporary employment rate stood at 15.1%.

Full-time employees represented 75.5% of salaried tourism workers and increased by 5.6%, while part-time employment rose by 4.2% and accounted for the remaining 24.5%.

Self-employment also increased. Tourism had 471,996 self-employed workers in the second quarter, 6% more than a year earlier.

Employment rises in 14 autonomous communities

Tourism employment increased in 14 autonomous communities, including Andalusia, Madrid, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Declines were recorded in several other regions, including Catalonia and the Canary Islands.

Ceuta and Melilla posted the strongest increase at 27.7%, followed by the Basque Country at 15.5% and the Balearic Islands at 15.2%.

The sharpest decline was recorded in Extremadura, where tourism employment fell by 15.3%, followed by Cantabria with a decrease of 8.5%.