MADRID, June 8 (UPI) -- Tourism in Spain has created more than 7,000 new jobs during the first four months of the year and could create as many as 30,000 by 2012, officials said.
The vice president of the Alliance for Tourism Excellence, Jose Luis Zoreda, said the tourism sector throughout Spain has seen an increase in jobs by almost 3 percent since the start of 2011, El Pais reported Wednesday.
Zoreda said the growth is mainly due to the geopolitical problems in competing tourist destinations like the Eastern Mediterranean.
He said job creation in the tourism sector could reach 30,000 by the end of the year if the trend continues.
Tarragona, Barcelona and Madrid were among the cities with the highest increase in tourism.
Spain's unemployment rate rose to a high of 21 percent in the first quarter of the year, with a record 4.9 million people out of work.
