Employment in Tourism Industries: Are there Subsectors with a Potentially Higher Level of Income?

TL;DR

This study investigates how employment distribution across tourism subsectors affects income levels per arrival in OECD countries, identifying which sectors contribute most to higher tourism income.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on the impact of employment in specific tourism subsectors on income per arrival, highlighting sectors with higher income potential.

Findings

Travel agencies and reservation services boost income per arrival.

Sports and recreation industry employment increases income levels.

Food, beverage, and cultural sectors may decrease income per arrival.

Abstract

This work analyzes the tourist sector, the employment generated by the tourism industries, and its relationship with tourism receipts. The hypothesis is that there are tourist subsectors with a potentially higher level of income. The article studies the impact of the distribution of the employed population in the different subsectors of the tourism industry, controlling for the most important economic variables, on the level of income per arrival in 24 OECD countries, using panel data for the period 2008 to 2018. As its main result, the model indicates that the labor force that increases most the receipts per arrival is the 'travel agencies and other reservation services', followed by the 'sports and recreation industry' labor force, while having a large labor force in the 'food and beverage' or 'cultural industry' operates in the opposite direction.