Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

TOURISM

‘Imserso’: What are the changes to Spain’s cheap holiday scheme for pensioners?

The Imserso tourism scheme allows pensioners to be able to go on holidays around Spain for discounted prices. Here are the changes to the programme you need to know for 2023.

Published: 11 April 2023 15:19 CEST
'Imserso': What are the changes to Spain's cheap holiday scheme for pensioners?
Changes to the holiday scheme for pensioners in Spain. Photo: JOSE JORDAN / AFP

Imserso is a social scheme offering holidays to the elderly. It aims to offer subsidised trips to pensioners in order to help them improve their quality of life and health, as well as to reduce their dependence on others.
The scheme also incentivises employment and economic activity, alleviating the problem of seasonal work in Spain’s tourism sector during low season.

It is also available to foreigners residing in Spain if they are:

  • A person who is retired and part of the Spanish public pension system.
  • A recipient of unemployment benefits or subsidies, aged 60 or older.
  • Receiving a widow’s or widower’s pensioner who is 55 or older.
  • A holder or beneficiary of Spain’s Social Security System, aged 65 or older.

READ ALSO – Imserso: Everything to know about Spain’s cheap holiday scheme for pensioners

If you’re eligible and are thinking about applying for the scheme this year, here’s what you need to know about the changes that are happening this year. 

Imserso trips will continue to include full-board accommodation, as well as activities, that will not change for this year. The changes will affect other aspects of the trips, such as the duration or the number of places available.

The number of places available will change

For the 2023/2024 season, the number of places available within the scheme from October 2022 to June 2023 will be 813,000 places. Around 3,000 places have been cut since the 2022/2023 season. The government has justified the decrease by saying that there is also a drop in demand for this service.

In fact, it is expected that this shift will only cover 90 percent of the places, some 734,000. The number of places for different types of trips has also changed and for some, the number has increased. For example, there will be a total of 28,442 places for internal tourism trips. Spaces for thermal tourism will remain the same, 192,000, for the 2023/2024 season. Even so, only 127,750 places are expected to fill.

Duration of trips

The duration of the Imserso trips this year will vary. Holidays planned for stays of seven and a half days will be extended to eight, covering the last overnight stay in a hotel. There will be no two-week trips this year.

This year’s Imserso budget has grown by 14 percent compared to last year’s, reaching a total of €6,672 million, which allows, together with the elimination of two-week trips, that the stays be extended that half day more. 

Changes to deadlines to request trips

The period to request a place in the trips between February and August ended on January 9th, however, applications for the holidays between September to December are still open until May 15th. The application deadlines this year are until May 14th for trips from February to August 2024 and until May 15th for the second shift of 2023.  

The cost of the trips

Depending on the type of destination and the duration (between seven and nine nights) and if transportation is chosen or not, it is estimated that each trip for the 2023/2024 season will cost:

Peninsular coastal zone: From €212.96 to €269.83. Without transport, between €196.02 to €235.95.

Coastal zone Balearic Islands: With transport, between €248.96 and €308.37; and without, between €195.78 and €236.07.

Coastal zone Canary Islands: With transport, from €330.51 to €405.53. Without transport, between €195.72 and €235.95.

Internal tourism: the cultural circuits of five nights and six days will cost €272.71, the nature tourism of four nights and five days will be €266.81; the provincial capitals of four nights and five days, €115.98; and trips to Ceuta or Melilla, €266.81.  

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TOURISM

Granada and Mallorca pile more pressure on Spain’s mass tourism problem

Spain's anti-tourism protests continued over the weekend with locals in Granada and Mallorca taking to the streets to highlight the negative impact on rental markets and local environments.

Published: 17 June 2024 13:50 CEST
Granada and Mallorca pile more pressure on Spain's mass tourism problem

Spain’s growing anti-tourism movement continued over the weekend, with demonstrations in Mallorca and Granada protesting the impact of mass tourism on locals.

This comes amid recent protests in Barcelona, the Canary Islands, and Madrid, among many other Spanish cities. In several parts of the country local governments have brought in limits on tourist rentals, something many feel inflates the rental market and prices locals out of their own neighbourhoods.

READ ALSO: ‘It kills the city’: Barcelona’s youth protest against mass tourism

On Sunday Mallorca residents took to the Caló des Moro beach to protest over-tourism in the area. The demonstration, organised by the Mallorca Platja Tour movement, saw more than 300 people occupy the idyllic cove that locals claim is becoming more difficult to enjoy due to growing numbers of tourists.

Protestors had two large banners stating “Let’s occupy our beaches” and “It’s time to stop.” Caló des Moro was chosen as a symbol of an area where residents say they can’t go as it’s becoming so oversaturated with visitors, and the protest began at 8.00 a.m to anticipate the arrival of thousands of tourists who come every weekend.

For many locals, mass-tourism also presents an ecological danger with an “extreme situation” they feel the Balearic government is doing little to tackle. The town council of Santanyí, where the cove is, favours regulating the influx of tourists, and points out that the huge number of people on the beaches means that 50 kilos of sand are lost every day.

4,000 tourists visit the beach every day during the summer season, according to the local council.

Mass protests against overtourism also took place across the Balearic Islands on May 26th, showcasing locals’ intentions to continue protesting until something changes.

READ ALSO: ‘Beach closed’: Fake signs put up in Spain’s Mallorca to dissuade tourists

Down in southern Spain, hundreds of people also demonstrated in the Albaicín neighbourhood of Granada over the weekend, principally against tourist overcrowding in the area that complicates the day-to-day life of locals and drives up rents.

Locals complain that the famously narrow streets of Albaicín are now always packed with people, mostly tourists. “They don’t let people through, many groups come to see it,” one woman said, referring to the picturesque neighbourhood in the shadow of the Alhambra.

As many as 200 people gathered at the Mirador de San Nicolás viewing point, a popular spot for tourists in Granada due to its views of the Alhambra, under the slogan “Our neighbourhood is not a theme park, for a liveable Albaicín.”

Demonstrators also held up banners criticising the behaviour of tourists, such as “don’t take pictures of me, I’m not your postcard” and “more residents, less clients” among others.

READ ALSO: Valencia to stop issuing licences to Airbnb-style lets as rents soar past €1,000

As is the case across Spain, locals in Granada also feel that the increasing number of short-term tourist rentals in the area is causing rental prices to increase.

“It’s an uncontrolled phenomenon,” locals said, something they say has led to a decrease in the number of local people living in Albaicín.

Local resident Sergio Ayuso said “the neighbourhood has been filled with tourist accommodation. This is a blessing for the tourist agents but for the neighbourhood… it is our punishment.”

SHOW COMMENTS