In the second quarter of 2026, the tourism sector in Spain has reached a total of 3,187,119 employed workers, representing an increase of 5.4% compared to the same period of the previous year. According to data published by Turespaña, between April and June of this year, 162,772 more employees were registered in activities linked to tourism, constituting 14% of total employment in the Spanish economy.
The unemployment rate in tourism activities stood at 7.5%, which means a reduction of 0.5 percentage points compared to the second quarter of 2025. Although most tourism activities have shown growth, travel agencies saw a decline of 18.4%, a change that is not attributed to actual employment, but to adjustments in the classification of economic activities.
The number of salaried workers in the tourism sector reached 2,715,123, which corresponds to a year-on-year increase of 5.3%. This growth has been maintained over the last twenty quarters. Additionally, it is noteworthy that permanent contracts have increased by 5.7%, with a temporary employment rate of 15.5%, lower than the national average. Regarding territorial distribution, Ceuta and Melilla reported the highest growth at 27.7%, while Extremadura suffered the largest decline at 15.3%.
