The secretary of state for tourism is a senior minister of the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Tourism responsible for the government policy on tourism, one of the most developed economic sectors in Spain, representing approximately 12.6% of GDP and 12.3% of total employment in 2024.
The secretary of state also assists the minister in coordinating the tourism policies of the different Spanish administrationsâÂÂthrough the Interministerial Committee on Tourism within the General State Administration and through the Sectoral Conference on Tourism for the regionsâÂÂand with the international relations on this matter, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In addition, and through the Tourism Institute of Spain (TURESPAÃÂA), whose presidency corresponds to the secretary of state, the government exercises the function of external promotion of tourism. The secretary of state also manages the State Financial Fund for Tourism Competitiveness (FOCIT), a fund destined to support the renovation, modernization or transformation plans of developed tourist destinations.
The position of Secretary of State for Tourism was created in summer 1977 after a massive State Administration reform. According to the law that created it, the Secretariat of State assumed the competences of the suppressed Undersecretariat of Tourism and all the bodies that integrated it were transferred to the new Secretariat of State. The Undersecretariat of Tourism was created in 1952 and was integrated in the Ministry of Information and Tourism, that was also suppressed in 1977 and replaced by the Ministry of Trade and Tourism.
In 1982, the Secretariat of State is suppressed after a government reform that created a new Ministry called Ministry of Transport, Tourism and Communications and its competences were transferred to a newly body named General Secretariat for Tourism. This General Secretariat survived until 2011 but since 1996 to 2000 was subordinated to the Secretariat of State for Trade, Tourism and SMEs with the First Aznar Government, to the Secretary of State for Trade and Tourism from 2000 to 2004 with the Second Aznar Government, to the Secretary of State for Tourism and Trade from 2004 to 2008 with the First Zapatero Government and from 2008 to 2011 to the Secretary of State for Tourism, after being suppressed by the pro-austerity Government of Mariano Rajoy.
Since 2011 the Secretariat of State has been autonomous and mainly focused in managing the Spanish tourism sector which has become one of the most developed and most important sectors in the economy, representing almost a 12% of GDP and a 13% of the employment by 2018 with more than 82 million tourist each year.
The Secretariat of State is composed of the following departments:
The secretary of state chairs the Tourism Institute of Spain (TURESPAÃÂA) and oversees the activity of the State Financial Fund for Tourism Competitiveness (, FOCIT) and of the public enterprises Paradores and State Commercial Company for the Management of Innovation and Tourism Technologies (SEGITTUR).