Tourism is the largest contributor to the Spanish economy, which is suffering chronically high unemployment due partly to the strain of bad debts on its financial sector, which is now in line for up to 100 billion euros via a bailout agreed this weekend.

Analysts had expressed concern over whether Spanish companies could afford to take on temporary staff for the summer tourism season.

"We have been receiving some messages that part of the credit line is intended to make sure that funds are available to create new jobs and to stimulate the economy," the U.N.'s Taleb Rifai told Reuters in an interview.

"What we're hoping is that part of any funds that will be made available for stimulation will include tourism, because tourism will pay back. It will feed back into the overall economy and most importantly support job creation," he said.

Spain's unemployment rate is the highest in the euro zone at 24.4 percent and around 50 percent among young people.

Spanish tourism benefited last year from increased numbers of holiday makers avoiding troubles in northern Africa, but so far this year growth has lagged that registered in other countries.

Visitor numbers to Spain, which has the world's third largest tourism industry behind France and the United States, rose 2.6 percent in the first months of 2012, compared with a better-than-expected 5.7 percent rise globally, Rifai said.

Aware of the potential of tourism, Spain has pumped money into the industry even as it has scaled back spending in other sectors, launching aggressive campaigns to promote its sunny beaches and cultural heritage.

With a record 1 billion tourists set to cross international borders this year, Rifai urged countries not to let their economic hardships deter tourists.

"Tourism can have a life of its own ... but it can't do it all on its own," Rifai said.

(Editing by Julien Toyer/Ruth Pitchford)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency