Imserso trips begin in October, after judicial appeals are dismissed

The Imserso travel program for the 2023-24 season will finally start during the second half of October, following the Justice's decision to reject the appeals that had been filed against the awarding of all lots to the Mallorcan tourist group Ávoris.

This was announced this Tuesday by the Ministry of Social Rights, which detailed that the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Resources (TACRC) has dismissed the appeals submitted to the tender, so the Imserso is already working to ensure that "everything is ready" to start on the usual dates.

The 2023-24 season program has 886,269 places (about 70,000 more than in the previous season) divided into three lots: 443,887 for peninsular coast trips; 230,039 for island coast trips and 212,343 for getaway tourism (with cultural, nature or provincial capital visit circuits).

At the beginning of September, the TACRC admitted the appeals submitted by the other three groups that had bid for the lots (Mundiplan, Seniorplan/Nautalia and Soltour) against the awarding in July of all of them to Ávoris, which raised fears that the start of the trips would be delayed even until the beginning of next year.

This Monday, the Spanish Confederation of Travel Agencies (CEAV) expressed its concern about the delay that could occur in the execution of this vacation program for seniors.

However, that court has finally sided with Ávoris and has dismissed the appeals against a program that is valued at almost 850 million euros.

Now the contract will be signed with the successful bidder for the different lots, Ávoris, and then, the accreditation letters will be sent to the users of the trips detailing the information that pensioners need to book their trips.

Then, the marketing will begin by the authorized agencies to be able to start the travel season.

The Ministry of Social Rights, on which the Imserso depends, assures that for this season the award criteria have been modified, "prioritizing the quality of the offer", the places have been increased, including individual ones, and new cultural and nature routes have been incorporated.

In addition, for the first time, the interior circuits have been extended to all the provincial capitals of the country.