According to the Future of the Travel & Tourism Workforce report, presented today at the 25th World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit in Rome, the travel and tourism sector in Spain will create nearly one million additional jobs (893,197) by 2035, reaching a total of 3.88 million jobs.
Pilar Mena, director of Sevilla City One, Metropolis of the South, who was invited to the summit, highlighted that, from a local perspective, “if we extrapolate these data to the province of Seville, which accounts for around 1.5–2% of national tourism employment, this trend will mean the creation of between 8,000 and 13,000 new jobs by 2035”.
Globally, the industry is projected to generate 91 million new jobs over the next decade, meaning that one in three net new jobs created worldwide will be linked to this sector. However, the report warns that up to 778,000 of these jobs in Spain could go unfilled due to a lack of qualified professionals, resulting in a 20% gap in the tourism labour market.
Gloria Guevara, the WTTC’s interim CEO, stressed that ‘travel and tourism will continue to be one of the world’s major drivers of employment, offering opportunities to millions of people. However, demographic and structural changes are already transforming labour markets, and we must anticipate this.’ She added that this challenge requires policies for training, digitalisation, the adoption of artificial intelligence and sustainability, as well as flexible frameworks to manage fluctuating labour demand, including reducing barriers to hiring foreign talent.
The report identifies cooks, waiters, front-of-house and maintenance staff, technical trades and specialised transportation and aviation personnel as being among the most in-demand profiles in the coming years.
The report also identifies the profiles that will be in greatest demand in the coming years: cooks, chefs, waiters and waitresses, bar staff, maintenance professionals, and technical trades (electricians, maintenance engineers and air conditioning technicians), as well as specialised aviation and transportation personnel (pilots, crew and safety technicians).
The study, which analyses the evolution of tourism employment in 20 economies, was prepared with the support of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Tourism, the Coraggio Group, the Miles Partnership and Hong Kong Polytechnic University. It is based on surveys of business leaders and in-depth interviews with WTTC members and other key players.
About the WTTC
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is the global representative body for the travel and tourism industry, uniting its most influential leaders to shape its future. For over 30 years, the WTTC has promoted policies that encourage sustainable growth, job creation, and global competitiveness. Its research provides reliable data on the contribution of tourism to the global economy, and its annual World Summit is now recognised as the industry’s leading platform for collaboration and innovation.
The 25th WTTC World Summit took place in Rome from 28 to 30 September in partnership with the Italian Ministry of Tourism, ENIT (the Italian National Tourism Agency), the Municipality of Rome, and the Lazio Region. The event was supported by Antonio Lefebvre d’Ovidio Di Bolsonaro Philanthropy, Arsenale Spa, Chase Travel (JPMC), Giacomo Milano, MMGY, MSC Group, Terme di Saturnia, and Trip.com Group.
