Countries by tourism share of employment

Malta had the highest tourism share of employment of 42 countries in 2021, at 15.6%. South Korea had the lowest, at 0.8%. The median was 4.9%. Source: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Highest15.6Malta

Lowest0.8South Korea

Median4.942 countries

Map of countries, 2021

Under 2.8
2.8 to 3.8
3.8 to 4.7
4.7 to 6.3
6.3 to 8
8 and over
No data

%, 2021. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: OECD, OECD Key tourism economic indicators: tourism employment, percentage of total employment (DSD_TOURISM_KEY@DF_KEY_IND_PC, EMP_SH). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All countries, 2021

%. 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.

Full ranking

Rank	Countries	2021 (%)	Change on 2020
1	Malta	15.6	-1 pts
2	Greece	13.2	-0.9 pts
3	Spain	12	-0.2 pts
4	Iceland	11.7	-0.4 pts
5	Portugal	10.3	-0.3 pts
6	Hungary	8.8	-0.2 pts
6	Japan	8.8	-0.4 pts
8	Ireland	8.3	-0.4 pts
9	Luxembourg	7.8	-0.2 pts
10	Slovenia	7.2	+0.2 pts
11	Latvia	7.1	-0.5 pts
12	Slovakia	6.9	-0.2 pts
13	Mexico	6.7	+0.4 pts
14	Serbia	6.6	-0.1 pts
15	Norway	6.4	-0.3 pts
16	Costa Rica	6.2	+0.9 pts
17	Chile	6.1	+0.2 pts
18	Croatia	5.9	0 pts
18	Saudi Arabia	5.9	+0.8 pts
20	Romania	5.2	-0.9 pts
21	Argentina	5	-0.2 pts
22	Lithuania	4.7	+0.1 pts
22	New Zealand	4.7	-0.7 pts
24	Finland	4.6	-0.2 pts
24	Netherlands	4.6	-0.5 pts
26	Czechia	4	-0.1 pts
27	Germany	3.9	-0.9 pts
27	Switzerland	3.9	+0.3 pts
29	Brazil	3.7	0 pts
30	South Africa	3.4	+0.4 pts
30	United States	3.4	+0.9 pts
32	Estonia	3.3	-0.3 pts
33	Australia	3.1	+0.2 pts
34	Austria	3	-0.7 pts
35	Israel	2.8	-0.2 pts
36	Denmark	2.7	0 pts
36	Türkiye	2.7	+0.2 pts
38	Canada	2.6	-0.1 pts
39	Colombia	2.2	+0.1 pts
39	Sweden	2.2	-0.2 pts
41	United Kingdom	1	-1.6 pts
42	South Korea	0.8	0 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

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.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. 6 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2021 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

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) (Countries by tourism share of employment, 2021) [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), Countries by tourism share of employment, 2021. 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/rankings/tourism-share-of-employment/countries?period=2021. 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). Countries by tourism share of employment, 2021. 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/rankings/tourism-share-of-employment/countries?period=2021.

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), Countries by tourism share of employment, 2021 [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/rankings/tourism-share-of-employment/countries?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{organisation_countries_by_tourism_share_2021,
  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): Countries by tourism share of employment, 2021}},
  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/rankings/tourism-share-of-employment/countries?period=2021. 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): Countries by tourism share of employment, 2021
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/rankings/tourism-share-of-employment/countries?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/tourism-share-of-employment/countries?period=2021.
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

Which country has the highest tourism share of employment?

Malta, with 15.6% in 2021, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Which country has the lowest tourism share of employment?

South Korea, with 0.8% in 2021.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: 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 2026-10-12. 6 countries have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.

Tourism share of employment: other rankings

EU countries