MADRID, 19 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Employment in the tourism sector exceeded the pre-pandemic level for the first time in April, with 2.555 million Social Security affiliates, according to data published this Thursday by Turespaña.

In the last year, 465,978 new registrations of workers linked to tourist activities have been generated, which represents a growth of 22.3%, continuing the trend that began in June 2021.

Thus, in April the workers registered in the sector represented 12.7% of the total number of affiliates in the national economy.

The Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, has highlighted that, two years after "the worst crisis that tourism has faced in its entire history", Spain is recovering the employment levels it was before the pandemic.

It has also claimed that in the previous crisis of 2009, with a much lesser impact, employment in tourism took six years to recover, which "shows that the recipes applied on this occasion, with measures to support companies and workers such as ERTE, ICO guarantees or direct aid have been more effective in promoting a rapid recovery of tourism in our country.

Employment growth occurred in all tourism branches: the hotel industry added 357,342 new hires in the last year (226,406 in food and beverage services and 130,936 in accommodation services), travel agencies hired 4,567 workers , while the other tourist activities increased by 104,069 members.

In 80.7%, the affiliates of the tourism sector correspond to wage earners (with a growth of 28.2% compared to the same month of a year ago) and the self-employed represent 19.3%, they have increased in the last year 2.7%.

Employment in the hospitality industry and travel agencies/tour operators increased in all the autonomous communities. In absolute figures, the greatest increases occurred in Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, the Canary Islands and the Community of Madrid.

In relative terms, the interannual increase in the Balearic Islands stands out, more than doubling last year's figures with a growth of 125.5%, followed by Andalusia, with a rise of 33.6%.