Tourism Workers Boom in Feb

Spain Registered 305,246 More Tourism Workers in February

The number of workers linked to tourism has increased by over 15 per cent, accounting for 305,246 more workers registered with Social Security, Turespaña has revealed. According to the authority, the total number of workers reached 2.3 million in February, while those employed in tourism accounted for 11.7 per cent of the total number of employees in the national economy by the end of last month, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

“The good employment figures in the tourism sector show that the protection plan rolled out by the Government to protect businesses and workers, as well as the health management of the pandemic, have proved effective and have allowed us to maintain and also generate new jobs in a key sector of our economy,” the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, said.

Minister Maroto also pointed out that the Modernisation and Sustainability Plan will enable the country’s tourism model to become modernised and Spain to continue being a leader for tourism in the EU.

The number of workers with a salary in the tourism sector, representing 79 per cent of the total, increased by 19.3 per cent compared to the same month last year, while self-employed workers, which represent 21 per cent of the total, surged by two per cent.

Moreover, rates grew significantly on all types of tourism, with hotels and restaurants counting about 231,977 additional affiliates – 182,731 out of which were in food and beverage services and 49,246 in accommodation services. Other tourism activities surged by 72,309 additional travellers while travel agencies had 960 more workers compared to the same time in the previous year.

The most successful regions for tourism were in Andalusia, the Valencian Community, Catalonia, the Community of Madrid, and the Canary Islands. In addition, the year-on-year increases noticed in the Balearic Islands, which was 35.4 per cent more than in the corresponding time last year and 27.8 per cent for the Andalusian region, stand out as the highest surges.