The tourism employment in Spain starts the year 2026 with notable strength, reaching a total of 2,934,334 employed workers, which represents an increase of 5.3% compared to the same period of the previous year. This growth has been largely driven by the increase in permanent contracts and a reduction in temporality, according to data published by Turespaña.
Between January and March 2026, the tourism sector has added 146,631 more employees than in the first quarter of 2025, constituting 13.2% of total employment in the Spanish economy. The unemployment rate in tourism activities has stood at 11.3%, representing a decrease of 0.8 percentage points compared to the previous year. However, the travel agency sector has suffered a decline of 15.4% in the number of employees.
The increase in employment is also reflected in the salaried workers in the sector, which have reached 2,487,670, with a year-on-year growth of 6.9%. This increase is the result of increases in the areas of passenger transport and hospitality, although travel agencies continue to face challenges. Additionally, the percentage of salaried workers with permanent contracts has grown by 8.2%, while the rate of temporality in the sector has decreased to 13.7%.
In terms of geographical distribution, the Basque Country has led the growth with 15.8% more employed, followed by the Valencian Community and Andalusia. In contrast, Catalonia has experienced a decline of 7.1% in its number of workers in the tourism sector, suggesting significant variability in the performance of tourism employment across different autonomous communities.