Three out of every ten workers are dedicated to the tourism sector in the Canary Islands

2023-08-09 20:37:12

Hotel receptionists, housekeepers, cooks, passenger transporters or travel agents. These are some of the most popular trades in the Canary Islands, those linked to the tourism sector. In fact, Three out of every ten Canarian workers are dedicated to offering some type of service to those who see the Islands as the ideal destination to disconnect during their vacations.

There were 271,204 people employed in tourism in the last quarter in the Archipelago, which represents 27.1% of the total active population in the same period in the Islands. Only three communities registered more tourism workers from April to June than the Canary Islands: Catalonia (487,314), Madrid (440,033) and the Valencian Community (279,779).

In addition, the Archipelago was, together with Catalonia, Madrid, the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands, one of the five communities that concentrated 74.5% of the employed in the sector.

At the national level, tourism employment in the second quarter of 2023 reached 2,864,776 employees, which represents an increase of 5.4% compared to the same period of 2022 and 6.3% more than in 2019, according to the data published by Turespaña.

Héctor Gómez, acting Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, specified yesterday at a press conference held in Tenerife that these figures show that the Government’s policies, recovery plans and dialogue with social partners and other administrations , “are paying off.”

So much so that – according to the minister – Spain is “correcting” the historical asymmetries related to tourism employment and now the sector “is capable of generating wealth throughout the territory, which strengthens us as a key economic sector for the performance of GDP and as a country as a whole.

Employment growth has been “homogeneous” and has been registered in all the autonomous communities, except the Valencian Community, Castilla y León, Aragón and Cantabria. Specifically, the regions where the number of employed persons grew the most were La Rioja, with a year-on-year growth of 40.1%, Galicia, with 18.3%, and the Balearic Islands, with 18.1%.

These “good data” are for the minister a reflection that the tourism sector is “one of the main economic engines of our country.” And it is that this last quarter tourism recorded 146,678 more employees than in the same period of the previous year, which represents one in four jobs created during that period in Spain (589,000). In other words, 24.9% of the new jobs were the result of tourism-related activities.

Sotourism workers in the country exceeded three million (3,130,026)which was 6% more than in the same period of the previous year.

In relation to the unemployment rate, it stood at 8.5%, half a point above 2022 due to the increase in active workers, but three points less than in 2019 (11.1%) and than the national economy, which registers 11.6%.

Regarding job creation, Gómez affirmed that the work linked to tourist activities increases in an “increasingly robust way and always under the motto of quality, stability and excellence”.

In the midst of the uncertainty generated by inflation and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Gómez believes that the “resilience” and “formidable performance” of tourism workers should be valued. Spain is “not only a power in attracting tourists, but also when it comes to generating wealth and stability for the citizens who are dedicated to this sector,” added the minister.

6% more travel agents

Salaried workers, employed by others in the tourism sector, grew by 8.1% in the sector and now total 2,381,684. Workers showed increases in all tourism activities: passenger transport (17.3%), hospitality (8.7%) and “other tourism activities” (3.5%). Within “other tourist activities”, in travel agencies, wage earners experienced a rise of 6.2%.

In addition, The growth of 18.1% of wage earners with an indefinite contract in the tourism sector stands out, which is the eighth consecutive rise. for his partwage earners with a temporary contract fell by 19.9%. And the self-employed have fallen by 6% Compared to the same period in 2022, there are 482,388 self-employed workers.

The employers expect 90% occupancy and improve the figures for 2019

Jorge Marichal, president of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (Cehat), celebrated yesterday the “very positive” employment data in Spain and had an impact in the case of the Canary Islandswhere “This year there is a great reception of international tourists”.

In fact, in some Islands the hotels are already close to occupancy peaks of 90% And – according to Marichal – these figures are expected to improve during this month of August, “even exceeding the turnover of the sector in 2019, before the pandemic”.

At the national level, the upward trend in inland tourism is confirmed, which opts for destinations such as Cantabria, where hotel reservations stand at 75% during weekends and holidays and 65% during the week.

On the Spanish coast, from Andalusia to Girona, Marichal points out that there is an occupation of more than 80%. While in the Balearic Islands, the hotels are above 85% of their capacity.

For the president of Cehat, the only negative aspect to take into account this summer is the general rise in prices, which could reduce the benefits of the tourism sector: “We believe that, especially in terms of profitability and occupancy, we will be above 2019 in some areas, but let’s not forget that part of that profitability will be absorbed by the effects of inflation”.