The Community of Madrid recorded the largest increase in tourism affiliates in the whole country in August, with 7,887 more workers than a year ago. The sector totals 3 million affiliates in Spain, a 2.3% increase.
Tourism-related employment in the Community of Madrid grew by 7,887 affiliates during August compared to the same month in 2025, representing an increase of 3.3%. These are the largest increases both in absolute and relative figures of all autonomous communities, according to data published by Turespaña and collected by lamoncloa.gob.es.
Nationally, the tourism sector reached 3 million affiliates in August, a 2.3% increase compared to a year ago, which translates to 69,580 additional workers. This growth exceeds the overall Spanish labour market's increase of 2.1% year-on-year by two tenths. Tourism employment now represents 13.8% of the total affiliates in the country.
By activity sectors, hospitality accounted for the largest increase with 37,584 more affiliates: 13,929 correspond to accommodation services and 23,655 to food and beverages. In contrast, travel agencies lost 1,972 workers.
Wage employment in tourism, which accounts for 83.1% of the total, rose by 2.5% year-on-year. Within this group, hospitality gained 2.1% (with the same increase in accommodation and in food and beverages), while travel agencies and tour operators recorded a decrease of 2.2%.
Self-employed workers in the sector, representing 16.9% of the affiliates, grew by 1.4%. In hospitality, the increase was 0.8%, driven by accommodation services (16.4%), while food and beverages fell by nearly half a point. In travel agencies, the number of self-employed workers dropped by 4.2%, a trend also influenced by changes in activity codes (CNAE).
Tourism employment increased in all autonomous communities except for Extremadura, Cantabria, and Castilla y León. Madrid not only led the growth but was also the region that added the most workers to the sector in both absolute and relative terms.
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