In 2021, 11.3 million people in the EU were employed in economic activities related to tourism (but not necessarily relying only on tourism). Among them, 6.8 million worked in the food and beverage industry, 2.1 million in the accommodation sector, 1.8 million in transport and 0.4 million for travel agencies and tour operators.

The 3 industries that rely almost entirely on tourism (accommodation, travel agencies/tour operators and air transport) employed 2.8 million people in the EU. 

Tourism labour force dominated by women

The tourism industries were a major employer of women. In 2023, among those employed in selected tourism industries, 57.6% were women, 21.2 percentage points (pp) more than in the total non-financial business economy (36.4%).

The share of part-time employment in the tourism industries (21.3%) was 6.1 pp higher than in the total non-financial business economy (15.2%).

Source datasets:  lfsa_epgan2, lfsa_egan22d, lfsa_egaed, lfsa_egan, lfsa_egdn2, tour_lfs1r2, tour_lfs2r2, tour_lfs3r2, tour_lfs4r2, tour_lfs5r2, tour_lfs6r2

The tourism industries attracted a slightly higher share of the younger labour force, with 11.0% of workers aged 15 to 24 compared with 9.0% for the non-financial business economy.

In 2023, the share of people with a lower educational attainment level in tourism was 20.2%, close to that in the total economy (18.9%). 

Foreign citizens accounted for 15.9% of the labour force in the tourism industries (7% from other EU countries and 9% from non-EU countries), 5.3 pp more than in the total non-financial business economy (10.6%).  

The likelihood of holding a temporary contract was 8.8 pp higher in tourism than in the total non-financial business economy (20.8% vs. 12.0% of people employed).

Similarly, the share of new employees holding their current job for less than one year was also higher in tourism than in the non-financial business economy as a whole (23.1% vs.14.8%).