Data / Tourism share of employment / United Kingdom

Tourism share of employment in United Kingdom

Tourism share of employment in the United Kingdom was 3.4% in 2023, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. That is up 0.4 pts from 2022.

20233.4%
Change on 2022+0.4 pts
Series high5.72009
Series low12021

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Tourism share of employment in United Kingdom, 2008 to 2023

1234562008201120142017202020232008: 5.2 %2009: 5.7 %2010: 5 %2011: 5.4 %2012: 5.4 %2013: 4.1 %2014: 4.1 %2015: 4.4 %2016: 4.4 %2017: 4.4 %2018: 4.2 %2019: 4.6 %2020: 2.6 %2021: 1 %2022: 3 %2023: 3.4 %02462008201420232008: 5.2 %2009: 5.7 %2010: 5 %2011: 5.4 %2012: 5.4 %2013: 4.1 %2014: 4.1 %2015: 4.4 %2016: 4.4 %2017: 4.4 %2018: 4.2 %2019: 4.6 %2020: 2.6 %2021: 1 %2022: 3 %2023: 3.4 %
%. Source: OECD, OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD_TOURISM_KEY@DF_KEY_IND_PC, EMP_SH). Retrieved 2026-10-12, published 2026-10-12.
All 16 values
Period%
20233.4
20223
20211
20202.6
20194.6
20184.2
20174.4
20164.4
20154.4
20144.1
20134.1
20125.4
20115.4
20105
20095.7
20085.2

United Kingdom compared with nearby places

Austria: 4.1 %Australia: 4.4 %Brazil: 4 %Canada: 3.3 %Switzerland: 4.2 %Chile: 6.8 %Colombia: 3.6 %Costa Rica: 7.1 %Czechia: 4.2 %Denmark: 3.4 %Estonia: 3.3 %Spain: 13.2 %Finland: 5.3 %United Kingdom: 3.4 %Greece: 13.8 %Croatia: 6.9 %Hungary: 8.9 %Israel: 3.3 %Iceland: 15.8 %Italy: 8.5 %Japan: 9.1 %South Korea: 1.6 %Lithuania: 4.6 %Latvia: 7.9 %Mexico: 7.2 %Netherlands: 5.4 %New Zealand: 6.5 %Portugal: 12.1 %Romania: 5.5 %Serbia: 6.8 %Saudi Arabia: 5.8 %Sweden: 2.5 %Slovenia: 7.4 %Slovakia: 7 %Türkiye: 3.4 %United States: 4 %South Africa: 4.7 %
  • Under 3.4
  • 3.4 to 4.2
  • 4.2 to 5.4
  • 5.4 to 6.9
  • 6.9 to 8.5
  • 8.5 and over
  • No data
Tourism share of employment, 2023, %. United Kingdom is outlined. Same source and period for every area shown. Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

Rankings

Definition

Employment in tourism as a percentage of total employment, as each country reports it to the OECD: for most countries, people employed or jobs in the tourism industries (accommodation, food and beverage serving, passenger transport, travel agencies and others); for some, the employment that serves visitors directly.

The OECD labels the measure direct, but most countries count everyone working in the tourism industries, including work that serves residents, so the share is usually well above tourism_direct_gdp_share (Spain 2023: 13.2% against 6.0%). Definitions differ between countries and break within some (flagged: Colombia 2015, Denmark 2019, Japan 2014), so compare countries with care.

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How to cite

OECD. OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD_TOURISM_KEY@DF_KEY_IND_PC, EMP_SH). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_KEY%40DF_KEY_IND_PC&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2026). OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD_TOURISM_KEY@DF_KEY_IND_PC, EMP_SH) (Tourism share of employment, United Kingdom, 2008 to 2023) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_KEY%40DF_KEY_IND_PC&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU

MLA 9

OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD_TOURISM_KEY@DF_KEY_IND_PC, EMP_SH), Tourism share of employment, United Kingdom, 2008 to 2023. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 12 Oct. 2026, https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_KEY%40DF_KEY_IND_PC&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/tourism-share-of-employment/united-kingdom. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2026. OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD_TOURISM_KEY@DF_KEY_IND_PC, EMP_SH). Tourism share of employment, United Kingdom, 2008 to 2023. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_KEY%40DF_KEY_IND_PC&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/tourism-share-of-employment/united-kingdom.

Harvard

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2026) OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD_TOURISM_KEY@DF_KEY_IND_PC, EMP_SH), Tourism share of employment, United Kingdom, 2008 to 2023 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_KEY%40DF_KEY_IND_PC&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/tourism-share-of-employment/united-kingdom (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{organisation_tourism_share_of_employment_2023,
  author = {{Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development}},
  title = {{OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD\_TOURISM\_KEY@DF\_KEY\_IND\_PC, EMP\_SH): Tourism share of employment, United Kingdom, 2008 to 2023}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_KEY%40DF_KEY_IND_PC&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/tourism-share-of-employment/united-kingdom. Publisher attribution: OECD. OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD\_TOURISM\_KEY@DF\_KEY\_IND\_PC, EMP\_SH). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ\&df[id]=DSD\_TOURISM\_KEY\%40DF\_KEY\_IND\_PC\&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
TI  - OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD_TOURISM_KEY@DF_KEY_IND_PC, EMP_SH): Tourism share of employment, United Kingdom, 2008 to 2023
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/12
PB  - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_KEY%40DF_KEY_IND_PC&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/tourism-share-of-employment/united-kingdom
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/tourism-share-of-employment/united-kingdom.
N1  - Publisher attribution: OECD. OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD_TOURISM_KEY@DF_KEY_IND_PC, EMP_SH). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_KEY%40DF_KEY_IND_PC&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html.
ER  -
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Questions

What is the tourism share of employment in United Kingdom?

Tourism share of employment in the United Kingdom was 3.4% in 2023, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. That is up 0.4 pts from 2022.

Where does this figure come from?

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD_TOURISM_KEY@DF_KEY_IND_PC, EMP_SH). Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-12.

What was the highest tourism share of employment in United Kingdom?

5.7% in 2009, the highest value since 2008 in this series.

Tourism share of employment in other countries

Related statistics for United Kingdom

All statistics for United Kingdom | United Kingdom in figures