Tourism and employment: New Tourism Satellite Accounts results for Greece

The paper presents indicators of the impact of tourism on the labour market, reflecting both employment in the tourism industries and tourism employment, i.e., labour directly attributable to tourism demand in the economy as a whole. A detailed analysis is provided for 2019, the year before Covid; the results, reflecting formal employment, for the period 2011 to 2020 show the evolution over time and the impact of Covid. Between 2011 and 2019, the number of persons employed in tourism industries grew at an annual rate of 9.1% and that of tourism employment at an annual rate of 11.6%. In 2019, there were 810.000 persons employed in the tourism industries and 427.000 in tourism employment. Accommodation and food- and beverage service activities accounted for nearly 76% of tourism employment. In 2020, the Covid year, employment in the tourism industries and tourism employment fell by 16.4% and 31.7%, respectively, reflecting the impact of travel restrictions due to Covid.