Beyond traditional tourism: Assessing the employment effects of market and non-market tourism

Tourism is a key sector for employment generation. However, empirical evidence has primarily focused on market tourism, neglecting the role of non-market tourism in job creation. This limitation reduces the understanding of the total economic impact of tourism on employment, especially in destinations where second-home tourism constitutes a structural component of the tourism system. This paper addresses this gap by analyzing the impact of market and non-market tourism on employment in Spain during the 2015-2024 period, using monthly data that integrate information on tourism demand, accommodation supply, and the labor market. To this end, a dynamic econometric approach based on Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) models is employed, allowing for the estimation of both aggregate and sectoral effects. The results show that non-market tourism exerts a positive and significant effect on total employment, outperforming market tourism in explanatory power. At the sectoral level, while market tourism is concentrated in traditional tourism activities -mainly accommodation and food services-non-market tourism presents a more heterogeneous and indirect pattern of effects, with weaker or mixed sectoral impacts, suggesting that its contribution to employment operates through channels different from those of market tourism. These findings highlight the need to incorporate non-market tourism into economic analysis and public policy design, promoting differentiated strategies that foster job creation and a more balanced structure between both tourism typologies.