This paper analyses individual returns to education in the Spanish tourism sector. The results, which are robust to different specifications of Mincer earnings regressions, show that the earnings returns to schooling for tourism workers are only half those for all other sectors, and that the difference in returns between these two groups has increased significantly during the economic crisis. This has happened at a time when the earnings range between those with lower and higher qualifications has narrowed in tourism while it has remained stable in other sectors, and when tourism has been capable of retaining most of its workforce while the rest of the economy has experienced a sharp decrease in employment.Keywords: human capital; returns to education; gender differences; over-education; economic crisis; Spain JEL classification: J24; I21The tourism sector comprises many different activities offering services to both tourists and residents, making it difficult to measure employment and added value in the sector, which is usually identified with a range of services including hotel and restaurant services (the most representative segment of the sector), transport, travel agencies and tour operators and leisure, cultural and sporting activities. The sum of these subsectors constitutes a major economic activity with a broadly positive impact on economic growth and employment in Europe (European Commission, 2010), which is especially important in Spain. As an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country, the tourism sector has the highest relative weight in terms of employment (13%) and gross added value (11%) according to 2009 data.It is well known that the tourism sector is characterized as a low-tech and traditionally labour-intensive industry and, particularly in the hotel and restaurant subsector, by a greater presence of women, young people and immigrants among its workforce. It is also a sector that has a high capacity for