Record-breaking numbers of tourism workers surpassed 3 million during off-peak seasons for the first time
Tourism Employment in Spain Surges in Q2 2025
Spain's tourism sector experienced a significant boost in the second quarter of 2025, with a 2% increase in employment compared to the same period in 2024. This growth was primarily driven by the seasonal acceleration of hiring related to the tourist season, supported by the timing of the Easter holiday in April, which boosted employment growth further.
According to data published by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, using information from Turespaña, the tourism and related service sectors saw an increase of approximately 364,800 new jobs among a total employment of 22.27 million people in Q2 2025. While exact standalone numbers for tourism employment are not separately detailed, it is known that tourism activities form a substantial part of the services sector growth, leading the overall job creation in Spain that quarter.
Strong consumer confidence, rising domestic demand, and a robust services sector—particularly in retail, lodging, and transportation—also contributed significantly to this employment growth. Rising consumer confidence, as indicated by an index of 82.5 in May 2025, offset global sluggishness, while robust GDP growth, with an annualized 2.8% growth in Q2 2025, mainly fueled by services like retail and lodging.
Immigration also played a role in maintaining a stable labor supply amid demographic challenges, supporting workforce-intensive sectors like tourism. Job gains across other sectors indirectly supported tourism through infrastructure and manufacturing improvements.
The tourism sector's employment growth was not uniform across all regions. While employment increased in 11 autonomous communities, with Madrid, Andalusia, Canary Islands, and Catalonia experiencing increases of 8.3%, 6.5%, 1.4%, and 2.4%, respectively, there were decreases in Valencia (-1.3%) and the Balearic Islands (-10.7%).
Despite this growth, the unemployment rate in tourism activities remained at 8%, which is 1.2 percentage points lower than the previous year. Wage earners with full-time contracts represented 75.2% of the total wage earners and increased by 4.3%. The rate of wage earners with indefinite contracts also increased by 4.6% compared to the previous year, reaching 84.2%.
In the tourism sector, wage earners showed increases in passenger transport (8.1%), hospitality (1.4%), and other tourism activities (9.9%), with travel agencies experiencing an increase of 13.1%. However, the hospitality sector experienced a decrease of 1.3% in the second quarter of 2025, due to a negative evolution in food and beverage services (decrease by 0.5%) and accommodation services (decrease by 3.5%).
The temporary rate in the tourism sector was 15.8%, a 0.3 percentage point decrease from the same period of the previous year. The number of employed increased in 11 autonomous communities, with Madrid, Andalusia, Canary Islands, and Catalonia experiencing increases of 8.3%, 6.5%, 1.4%, and 2.4%, respectively.
In summary, Spain's tourism employment benefits from seasonal patterns, favorable economic conditions, and broad services sector growth, culminating in a 2% employment increase amid a historic rise in total employment to 22.27 million people in Q2 2025. However, the hospitality sector experienced a slight decrease in the second quarter of 2025.
The average tourist employment growth in Q2 2025 was 2%, with travel services forming a significant portion of the overall services sector growth. This lifestyle-oriented employment surge in Spain was supported by various factors such as strong consumer confidence, robust GDP growth, and immigration.
