The confrontation over the Imserso travel contest, which Soltour, Nautalia and Mundiplan have challenged, considering the awarding of the three lots to Ávoris unfair, will not have a great impact on the hotel sector in Catalonia, sources from the General Directorate of Tourism of the Generalitat. The majority of Catalan establishments participate in the travel program for the elderly between February and May, so a possible delay in its start should not alter too much the activity planned by them, they add.
Catalonia was the fourth Imserso destination last season in terms of places offered –106,322 out of a total of 816,029– as stated in the Imserso annual report for 2022. In addition, it provides the majority of participants, with 716,775 applicants for 3,991,515. Andalusia was the community with the most places offered that year, followed by the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands.
The hoteliers of these last two autonomous communities have expressed their fear that the Imserso program will be delayed this year. This is the case of the Benidorm Hosbec employers' association, which has warned of possible ERTE in the event that the trips do not start on the usual dates – between mid-September and October.
For its part, the Balearic Association of Tourist Activities (Abactur) has explained that a delay could cause the closure of establishments and the lack of specialized activities in the months of October to December. In your case, there is a large number of establishments that participate in the program in the last quarter of the year.
From the travel agency sector, they consider that "probably" there will be delays in travel sales this season.
The appeals that Soltour, Nautalia and Mundiplan have filed with the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Appeals could delay the start of the program for up to three months, although it will depend on the processing of the allegations. 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, on the other hand, the calendar would hardly change. From the Ministry of Social Rights they consider that there does not have to be a significant delay with respect to the beginning of other years.
