A study by Visit Benidorm places the city's tourism unemployment at historic lows during 2025

Tourism unemployment in Benidorm is at its lowest level in 2025 since at least 2018, coinciding with the consistently high number of tourist arrivals in the municipality month after month. This is reflected in the latest activity reports prepared by the Visit Benidorm Tourism Foundation, which indicate that the impact of tourism on employment is enabling the city to offer more job opportunities in the hospitality and accommodation sector. Furthermore, this is true year-round, as another key finding in the graphs is that the disruption of seasonal tourism has flattened the employment curve between peak and off-peak periods.

Thus, according to data obtained from the Tourism Intelligence System of Segittur – the State-owned company for the Management of Innovation and Tourism Technologies, under the Ministry of Industry and Tourism – based on statistics from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy, the total number of unemployed in tourism-related occupations in September reached 563 people. This represents a year-on-year decrease of 9.92% compared to 2014 (589 unemployed) and a 51.42% decrease compared to 2018, when the number of unemployed in tourism-related occupations reached 1,159.

This record low in tourism unemployment comes in a year in which Benidorm is also breaking records in terms of the number of tourists staying in the area and the number of visitors. Specifically, the number of travelers staying in hotels, apartments, and campsites in the city up to October, according to official INE data, reached 2.4 million, representing an 8% year-on-year increase compared to the same period in 2024. Likewise, the number of tourists and day-trippers – people who come to Benidorm for a day without staying overnight – reached 17.2 million people up to September, 9.5% higher than the figures recorded in 2024, according to official data from mobile phone antennas.

More job seekers

Meanwhile, the same report on Visit Benidorm's 2025 activity, presented last Friday during the foundation's Board of Trustees meeting, highlights the population increase that has occurred in the city during the same period. According to INE (National Institute of Statistics) data, Benidorm had a registered population of 68,558 residents in 2018, while in 2024 this number reached 74,663; a growth of 10.52% in six years that shows no signs of slowing down, as the INE's projections for Benidorm's population as of January 2025 place it at 77,221 inhabitants.

Thus, despite having a larger population—and therefore more job seekers—the city's labour market "is managing to absorb all this population growth, offering a much lower unemployment rate than in previous years," stated Mayor Toni Pérez.

The mayor also highlighted that the break from seasonality, and therefore the flattening of the employment curve previously associated with the shoulder and off-season, "translates into more economic activity spread throughout the year and, consequently, a greater need for workers year-round."

Finally, Toni Pérez emphasised that the data on the impact of tourism on Benidorm's economy and employment "reflect the sustainability of this activity from an economic and social perspective, generating more and more jobs and attracting more and more residents who come to the city in search of better jobs and life opportunities." "We've always said it: tourism generates and redistributes wealth and well-being," Pérez added, reiterating his position that "employment is the best social policy that can be implemented."