Tourism employment exceeds 3 million in the last quarter of 2025, an increase of 2.2% over 2024

Tourism employment in the fourth quarter of 2025 recorded 3,003,684 employed workers, an increase of 2.2% compared to the same period in 2024.

According to data published today by Turespaña, between October and December 2025 tourism-related activities recorded 65,987 more employees than in the same quarter of the previous year. During this quarter, employees in the tourism sector accounted for 13.4% of total employment in the Spanish economy.

In addition, the percentage of unemployed over active people in tourism activities was 9.3%. In the national economy, the unemployment rate stood at 9.9%.

The number of employees continues to grow

In the fourth quarter of the year, the main tourism activities experienced growth, except for travel agencies, which fell by 0.9%, and hotels and restaurants, where it decreased by 1.3%. In passenger transport the variation was positive, at 7.6%.

The number of employees in the tourism sector during this period amounted to 2,558,365, which is a significant year-on-year increase of 4.4%. Wage earners showed increases in passenger transport (14.4%), other tourism activities (6.9%) and hotels and restaurants (1.6%). In the case of hospitality, both accommodation and food and beverage services increased. Within other tourism activities, travel agencies experienced a decrease of 13%.

The employment rate (salaried/employed) was 85.2%, 1.8 percentage points higher than in the fourth quarter of the previous year.

Rise in full-time work

The number of employees in the tourism sector on permanent contracts (85.2%) increased by 4% year-on-year, representing the 18th consecutive increase. Furthermore, the number of employees with temporary contracts was up by 6.8%.

In this regard, the temporary employment rate (employees with temporary contracts/total employees) in the tourism sector was 14.8%, 0.3 percentage points higher than in the same period of the previous year. In terms of working hours, full-time employees accounted for 75.8% of all employees, a 5% increase.

The number of self-employed workers in the tourism sector stood at 444,319, down 8.6% compared to the same period of the previous year, with decreases in hospitality (-14.8%) and passenger transport (-17.5%) and an increase in other tourism activities (21.8%).

Foreign employees in the tourism sector increased to 716,387 employees in the fourth quarter of 2025 (up 1.1%).

Andalusia, the fastest growing region

In terms of territorial distribution, the number of employed people increased in ten autonomous communities, including some of the main ones - Andalusia (which, at 11.9%, grew the most), the Community of Madrid, the Community of Valencia and the Balearic Islands - and fell in the rest, including, as the main one, Catalonia, which fell by 10.5%.

Non official translation