Social Security affiliates linked to tourism activities grew by 4.3% year-on-year in May and reached a total of 2,575,638 employees, according to the data disseminated by Turespaña, dependent of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.
This figure is the highest of the historical series in a month of May. In addition, affiliates in tourism activities accounted for 13.3% of the total in the national economy, which demonstrates the strength of the sector.
For the acting Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, the data is very positive and confirms that the new orientation given by the Government to the Spanish tourism model is appropriate: "From the Ministry we are strengthening the promotion of Spain as a destination tourism in distant markets such as China, where there is a huge potential that we are not taking advantage of yet, and a loyalty campaign has been launched in the British market, as part of the measures included in the contingency plans to face Brexit " .
According to the forecasts of Turespaña, during the summer period the dynamism of tourist employment is expected to continue.
Data by tourist branches
In May 2019, affiliates linked to tourism activities grew interannually in absolute terms in 106,793 workers. The increase was registered in all tourist branches: the hotel industry grew by 67,940 members (57,794 more members in the food and beverage services, and 10,146 more in the accommodation services), in other tourist activities it increased by 35,762 members, and in the travel agencies there was an increase of 3,091 workers.
Last month the number of employees in the tourism sector, which represents 80.9% of the total, grew by 5.1% compared to the same month of the previous year, while self-employment (19.1% of the total) increased 1.3%.
Data by autonomous communities
In May, employment in the group of hotels and travel agencies / tour operators grew in all the autonomous communities. In absolute terms, the greatest increases occurred in Andalusia, the Valencian Community, Catalonia, the Community of Madrid, Galicia and Murcia. These six communities account for 78.2% of the absolute interannual increase.
In relative terms, the interannual increases of Murcia (7.4%) and Andalusia (6.8%) stand out.