Costa Blanca hoteliers need more to break even on Imserso holidays

Costa Blanca hoteliers need more to break even on Imserso holidays

Benidorm, Spain - May 5 2022: Restaurant outdoor tables and chairs at Plaza Santa Ana with a view of Benidorm and the Mediterranean Sea

COSTA BLANCA hoteliers’ association Hosbec urged the central government to include a new Imserso model in the 2023 Budget.

These state-subsidised pensioners’ low-season holidays are vital to the Costa Blanca, allowing more hotels to remain open during the low season, keeping staff in their jobs and boosting the local economy.

In a letter sent last month, Hosbec president Toni Mayor, reminded the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanchez, and Social Policies minister, Ione Belarra, of their pledges to restructure the programme.

Mayor, who recently received the Generalitat’s Professional Career Award for services to tourism, maintained that this commitment had to be reflected in a Budget increase.

Explaining that the central government had promised new specifications when the 2023-2024 Imserso programme was put out to tender, he asked the government to increase the existing allocation to €110 million and one million holiday packages.

“At present there is a €63 million allocation for 820,000 packages with hotels charging €22 per person per day for full board including wine and water with meals, or €24 if we include IVA,” Mayor pointed out.

To break even, hoteliers needed between €34 and €35, bearing in mind that energy costs have risen by 300 per cent, representing 27 per cent of a hotel’s overheads, he said.

“Who really gains is the state, which receives €1.6 for every €1 it invests in Imserso in taxes and social security payments, plus savings on unemployment benefits.”

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Written by

Linda Hall

Originally from the UK, Linda is based in Valenca and is a reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering local news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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