Spain’s Best Paid Tourism Jobs

One of the most popular industries for ex pats hoping to live and work in Spain is the hospitality industry. This is because working in hospitality and tourism allows ex pats to use their native language skills to their advantage, with hospitality and tourism being a sector where multiple language skills are a real advantage. Unfortunately, the hospitality industry in Spain is well known for being badly paid, and the hours in the sector are considered to be notoriously long and antisocial. But that doesn’t always have to be the case. Some tourism jobs in Spain are well paid, highly regarded, and highly sought after. If that sounds like the kind of job, you’re looking for then here are the six best paid jobs in tourism in Spain:

Hotel Director

You will need experience of working within the hotel sector to secure a job as a hotel director, but this highly regarded and sought-after role commands a significant amount of respect and responsibility. As a hotel director you can expect your job to involve running the hotel on a day-to-day basis, overseeing and hiring all of the staff within the hotel, focusing on customer satisfaction, and ensuring that yearly budgets are set and met. The financial compensation for this varied role is high, with hotel directors in Andalusia, Murcia and Basque Country earning approximately €69,000 per annum.

Head of Customer Experience

The good news is that customer service and customer experience is a growing sector in Spain, and there are plenty of opportunities for high-paying positions in this sector if you have existing customer service experience. The head of customer experience's role will involve leading a team, overseeing company plans, and growing brand loyalty for your organisation. You can expect to earn up to €65,000 per annum in this position.

Head Chef

Working as a chef is a highly skilled career, and chefs in Spain are both highly qualified and highly sought after. There is good money to be made from working as a chef in the tourism industry in Spain, particularly if you work within a high-end restaurant or luxury hotel. As a head chef or executive chef with more than ten years of industry experience, you can expect to earn up to €65,000 per annum.

Head of Food and Beverages

The second food-based role on this list, you don’t need to be able to cook to be the head of food and beverages. Instead, you will work within a hotel or restaurant and organise menus and food experiences for your customers. This is a very niche role, so they may be hard to find, but you can expect to earn around €60,000 gross per year in this job role.

Sales Manager

The perfect next step for established salespeople, if you have experience in the sales sector then you could earn more if you can find a role as a sales manager within the hospitality industry. These job roles are varied and will see you leading a team responsible for selling anything from day trips to hotel rooms. A sales manager within the hospitality industry can also earn up to €60,000 gross per year.

Director of Reception

Finally, if you’ve worked on a reception desk before and have excellent customer service skills then you could use these to pursue a role as the director of reception. You will need more than a decade of experience in a relevant sector to obtain this role, and can expect to earn up to €55,000 gross per year. 

Understanding the Spanish Hospitality Sector

During the coronavirus pandemic, the hospitality and tourism sectors in Spain experienced a significant decline, but these have bounced back considerably since tourism in the industry reopened in 2021. During 2020, the hotel industry’s activity had improved to 80% of its former levels and in the first half of 2022, Spain welcomed just over 30 million international tourists, putting the numbers back up to pre-pandemic levels. Tourism contributes significantly to the GDP of Spain, so it is important to see these figures increase.

Are you thinking of moving to Spain? Perhaps you like the idea of working in the tourism sector, and sharing the magic of Spain with visitors to this beautiful country? Whatever your dream, we can help. Why not get in touch with our team of local property experts today, to find out more about how we can help you.