Ministry names the day

THE central government has finally awarded the concessions for organising the subsidised Imserso holidays for pensioners.
The Ministry of Social Rights announced that Mundiplan, an Iberia and Alsa alliance, is to organise journeys to the Spanish coast while Mundosenior (Viajes Halcon) will be responsible for the inland cultural circuits.
Both companies have two-year contracts and, so long as there are no appeals from other bidders for the concessions, the first tourists should be arriving in Benidorm and other Costa Blanca resorts in November.
The government announcement means that 4,000 jobs in Alicante province’s tourism industry that were hanging in the balance as the sector waited for confirmation of the Imserso contracts, are safe.
The future is also brighter for the 60 Alicante province hotels that depend on the 180,000 Imserso tourists if they are to remain open during the low season.
Nuria Montes, secretary general of the Costa Blanca hoteliers’ association Hosbec welcomed the news.
“This is a very important first step and we hope that the first tourists will be arriving within a month or six weeks,” Montes said.
“Nevertheless, we must learn more about the economic conditions and wait and see if there is another appeal, but it’s a good step forward,” she added.
Meanwhile, as recently reported in the Euro Weekly New, some hotel chains and travel agencies including Mundosenior, are already offering their own holiday packages to the over-60s.