This year’s Imserso has just started with uncertainty and pessimism in the peninsular star destination -Benidorm- and the one that usually offers the most places (140,000), where hotels have repeatedly come to warn that “the program is not viable“Due to the low prices frozen for several years imposed by the Government.
From the group of accommodation companies Hosbecbased in this city and representative of the entire Valencian Community, have warned against “closures of hotels“in low season, when normally this market niche allows many establishments to remain open.
Although it never reported many cash benefits, Imserso traditionally allowed cover expenses and keep staff active during these months of low tourist influx, but keeping rates at a ridiculously low price 26 euros by guest and day completed years ago, are ruinous. It includes the hotel night, full board and entertainment services, which does not even cover the costs, as Hosbec also pointed out through the national employers’ association Hosteltur.
Last year, the industry cried foul when the ministry refused to update these prices and granted the same financial compensation to these hosting companies. A study by University of Alicante calculated that each establishment costs a few 35 euros daily the service provided to each of these visitors.
The cost-effective alternative
Faced with these prospects of operating at a loss and the precedents of other seasons, the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazonpresented a few days ago its alternative ‘Imserso’, called Travel +65in which fold THE endowment of the Executive of Pedro Sanchez.
Precisely, the price of accommodation is set at 70 euros per day for a double room or 50 euros for a double room for single use in the case of elderly people traveling alone.
Hosbec “welcomes the initiative and will continue working with the Generalitat and the sector to consolidate a tourism model that is an engine of economic growth and social well-being”, as they valued, in addition to “promoting social tourism and seasonal adjustment“.
The pilot initiative, with an investment of over one million euros, will allow more than 7,000 seniors to enjoy tourist stays in the coming months, and will thus generate 50,000 overnight stays with conditions superior to those of Imserso. Offers stays of 5 to 10 nights with half-board and a bind of 100 euros for experiences, parking and transfers.
The sector appreciates the “commitment” of the Autonomous Administration to consolidate this program in 2025, giving it continuity with a forecast budget of six million euros, which will benefit 40,000 elderly people and generate 300,000 overnight stays more in the next financial year.
“We are facing a new tourist reality and a profile more and more senior tourists demandingThis type of initiative is therefore essential to improve the competitiveness of our destinies,” he stressed Fede FusterPresident of Hosbec.
This hotel group also highlighted that this Viaja +65 “guarantees access to the program to all seniors, regardless of their level of digital skills, by facilitating the processing of reservations via agencies of travels And social centers“.
