The travel agency They have demanded in unison this Friday the Secretary of State for Social Services and the director of Imserso “urgent solutions” to the “chaos” generated by the management of this year’s Imserso Tourism Program.
In a joint statement published this Friday, the travel agency groups Acave, Fetave and Unav – which claim to represent more than 4,500 points of sale in Spanish territory – assure that the program launched on October 26 has caused multiple complaints about part of the users.
All the lots were awarded to the same business group: Avoris, which has among its brands some as well-known as Halcón Viajes, Viajes Ecuador, Travelplan, Catai, Viva Tours or Iberojet, among many others.
Among the main problems that travel agencies point out are the collapse of the website of the company awarded the program, the downgrading of many hotel rooms and the lack of spaces in destinations such as the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Andalusia.
In the opinion of the three associations, the aforementioned problems are “considerably” affecting the image of the travel agencies themselves and the Imserso program.
Along these lines, they have pointed out that the situation has caused a complication in the work of the agencies and a decrease in sales compared to last year.
The three associations consider it essential to “analyze in depth” what happened and improve the operation of the program in the future, in addition to the publication by the successful bidder of the information corresponding to the commercialization of the program.
The 2023-24 season program has 886,269 places (about 70,000 more than the previous season) distributed among three lots: 443,887 for peninsular coast trips; 230,039, from the island coast, and 212,343, from getaway tourism (with cultural circuits, nature circuits or visits to provincial capitals).
Trip prices range between 124.68 euros for a four-day trip (three nights) to the provincial capital and 435.95 euros for a 10-day trip (nine nights) to the Canary Islands, transportation included.
Related news
After the award by Imserso of the management of the three lots to Ávoris Corporación Empresarial (Barceló), the rest of the bidders (three) decided to challenge it before the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Resources (TACRC), which has caused a delay in the launch of the trips.
Last September, the court rejected the appeals submitted to the tender, after which the agency dependent on the Ministry of Social Rights proceeded to sign the contract with the UTE awarded the three lots, Ávoris, and, subsequently, to send the accreditation letters to travel users.