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

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

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

The tourism industries attracted a slightly higher share of the younger labour force, with 11 percent of workers aged 15 to 24 compared with 9 percent for the non-financial business economy.

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

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

The likelihood of holding a temporary contract was 8.8 pp higher in tourism than in the total non-financial business economy (20.8 percent vs. 12 percent 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 percent vs.14.8 percent).