Soltour, Nautalia and Mundiplan have appealed the award of the Imserso program before the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Appeals, a movement that could delay the start of trips for the elderly between two weeks and three months, depending on how the processing of the applications evolves. allegations.
The tour operator Soltour, from the Piñero tourist group, was the last to confirm the resource today. In it, he describes as "unfair" the exclusive award of the three lots of the program to Ávoris, a division of the Barceló group in association with Halcón Viajes. It is the first time that a single company wins all the hiring, which this season adds 886,269 places divided into three lots –mainland, with half of the trips, island coast and getaway tourism and European origin. Ávoris obtained the highest score in all three batches.
From Soltour they insist that the award has not been made in accordance with the bases of the contract document. He had previously presented allegations before the Imserso Contracting Board, but they were dismissed. The appeal presented focuses mainly on challenging what they consider "the unfair elimination of his candidacy, which was communicated to him the same day that he awarded the program." In this way, they try to get Imserso to re-evaluate their proposal submitted for lot 1, "which should be a winner if the quality criteria of the contest are taken into account," they insist. In this lot, the two most weighted award criteria are the hotel offer, with 39%, and the price offered, with 38%. Soltour alleges that its offer is cheaper than the winning one.
Soltour's claim is added to those made by the joint venture formed by Seniorplan, Autocares Vera and Nautalia and by Mundiplan (Iberia, IAG7 and Alsa). These resources could delay the start of the program, which traditionally starts between mid-September and early October with the marketing of the trips. The Court now has between ten and fifteen days to decide whether to admit the appeals for processing. If this were the case and it takes resources into consideration, all the proposals would have to be re-evaluated and the program could suffer a considerable delay there. If you reject them, the schedule would hardly change. From the Ministry of Social Rights, however, they clarify that they do not expect a delay in the start of the trips for this season. Even if it were admitted for processing, they continue, "there does not have to be a significant delay with respect to the start of other years."
Sources close to Ávoris emphasize in this regard that the award "was fair", and they trust that once the allegations are reviewed, their offer will continue to be considered the most appropriate.
The Imserso program is crucial for the tourism industry, since it allows a large part of the activity to be maintained in low season. This season includes a 7.5% rise in prices per space after years of complaints from the sector, in addition to 70,000 more spaces. The program for the 2023-2024 season is valued at more than 300 million euros, of which Imserso contributes 22.5% and users 77.5%.
