Monday, 17 November 2025, 10:18
Tourism employment set a new milestone on the Costa del Sol this past summer. According to the national institute of statistics, the main industry accounted for almost 21% of all workers in Malaga province in the third quarter of the year. This is an unprecedented figure following a 19% increase in employment in general. Tourism generated a total of 169,544 jobs from June to September.
The hospitality sector needs the most workers, accounting for 67.7% of the overall number of employees in tourism, after a 2.7% increase in social security affiliates. It is followed by the accommodation segment, which also experienced a rise of 3.6%. Tourism, transport and leisure activities are the next most dynamic sectors with the largest number of workers, only truncated by car rental companies which saw a decrease of 3.1% in employees.
Most of the workers related to the field of tourism in the third quarter were Spanish by origin (75.5%), although foreigners also rose by 28% compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, 87.2% were salaried employees, 73.6% had a permanent contract and 86% work full time.
169,544
is the number of people employed in the Costa del Sol’s tourism sector in the third quarter of the year
The growth in employment exceeded the historical balance of the summer. According to president of Turismo Costa del Sol Francisco Salado, from June to August, Malaga received more tourists, who generated more income and employment than ever before. He said that the province had received 6,235,000 tourists from June to August, 1.12% more than the summer of 2024. These visitors spent more than 8.9 billion euros in the destination, 1.8% more than last summer.
Salado highlighted these record figures, never before achieved. They are evidence of the key role that tourism plays in the province’s economy. The president of Turismo CDS expects that the upward trend will be maintained even in the final stretch of the year.
With this peak in tourism employment, Malaga province accounted for 32% of the total number of jobs in Andalucía in the third quarter of the year. The region itself achieved a milestone during that period. As regional minister of tourism Arturo Bernal stated last week, Andalucía exceeded half a million employees in the tourism industry, reaching 531,000 jobs (+12.7%), for the first time ever.
Having achieved such numbers, Andalucía accounted for almost 19% of all tourism employment in Spain, making it the fastest growing region. What is more, it did it “with greater stability, more permanent contracts and a temporary employment rate that continues to fall year after year”. This is attributable to the record number of tourists that visit the region and its provinces. Between July and September, Andalucía received more than 13.8 million tourists, which consolidates the stable growth trend throughout the year. Moreover, despite the cooling of national tourism that has recently been experienced, Andalucía seems to be the No.1 destination for Spaniards, with 9.5 million domestic tourists received in the third quarter.
Bernal also highlighted the increase in tourist spending, which exceeded 9.5 billion euros, representing an increase of 8.2% over the same period last year, “consolidating the contribution of tourism as an essential economic engine for Andalucía”.