Subsidised Spanish holidays for pensioners

Fancy a cheap holiday?

Don't ever say the Spanish government does nothing for you. If you are a pensioner there is a good chance they will even provide you with an annual holiday, up to a month long, everything included for a knock-down rate. Surprising as it may seem - that the government should be springing for millions of holidays - this has been going on for 25 years and the anniversary of "Imserso" as the scheme is known is being celebrated this year.

The objectives of the holiday subsidies are really twofold - to support the tourist industry, particularly during the quiet winter months, and secondly to provide a social benefit to Spain's senior citizens. This is how it owrks:

Qualification criteria

To qualify you must be Spanish resident and:

Be 65 years old or
Be drawing a state pension or
Be a widow of a pensioner aged 55 or over or
Be disabled / in pre- retirement and over 60 years old.

Note: spouses of people who meet the requirements can participate without meeting the requirements themselves.

What's included

The holidays on offer are pretty much all inclusive although some parts are at the option of the buyer:

1. - > Round trip transportation on scheduled, from the provincial capital to the destination hotel and return
  - > Accommodation in full board in shared double room at hotels selected by the Imserso . Accommodation in single room subject to availability and additional charge.
  - > Collective insurance policy.
  - > Medical services
  - > Animation (entertainment) program.

Destination	8 days (7 nights)	10 days (9 nights)	15 days (14 nights)	15 days combined (14 nights)	29 days (28 nights)	29 days combined (28 nights)
Andalusia, Catalonia, Murcia and Valencia	€ 164.50	€ 212.80	€ 310.90		€ 527.50	€ 559.60
Andalusia, Catalonia, Murcia and Valencia (no transportation)	€ 139.60	€ 173.20	€ 252.30
Balearic	€ 192.30	€ 244.10	€ 336.10		€ 559.00	€ 590.50
Baleares (no transportation)	€ 139.60	€ 173.20	€ 252.30
Canary	€ 250.30	€ 319.60	€ 474.20	€ 505.70
Portugal, 8 days (7 nights)	€ 182.70
Cultural Tours, 6 days (5 nights)	€ 174.50
Nature Tourism, 5 days (4 nights)	€ 168.80

All this information is taken from the Imserso website Imserso.es which has all the contact details and application details. It is also possible to get more information at travel agents. If in doubt, as a foreign resident of Spain, it is probably worth asking at an agents first.

There is an online booklet called "Holidays for Seniors" which claims some big benefits for the scheme, not least of which are the claims for the economic benefit:

- 118.000 jobs directly or indirectly supported

- 1.54€ in economic benefit for every 1€ "invested"

The leaflet also gives a rough indication of the chances of actually getting one of these cheap holidays: roughly 1 in 2 given that 2.25 million applications were received for 1.2m places last year. There is a complex system of weighting to decide who gets the holidays. This is a Google translation of the criteria:

Age of applicants

This variable assesses the applicant's age, consistent with the principles that inform and justify the assistance to the elderly, earning one point for each year of more than 60 years. The ceiling is 20 points. The reference for valuation shall be the applicant's age at December 31st of the year when the deadline for submission of applications.

Appear in two participants in the application, calculate the age of two years with reference to the parameter introduced by screen, averaged over the two ages rounded up.

Economic status of applicants

Be assessed monthly income of the applicant and, where applicable, his spouse. In this case, the two incomes added together and divided by 1.33.

The maximum score is 40 points and will be in accordance with a specified income brackets.

Participation in the Program in previous years

Through this variable is encouraged to access the new program applicants.

Likewise, and for those / as user / as who have already participated in the programs in previous seasons, will be considered for weighting the period in which they have enjoyed their holidays, distinguishing between the months of low season (December and January) and season high (October, November, February, March, April, May and June). To this point will be considered the last two seasons of the program.

In any case, and for those who have participated twice in one season, be deemed to have traveled in high season regardless of whether both trips had been made in the offseason.

The maximum score is estimated for this variable is 50 points. For the assessment of applications for marriage shall take into account the situation of both spouses, and will require that both meet the same requirements for participation to get a higher score.

Large family

Under the provisions of the Law on Protection of large families, and through this section facilitates access to the Program of Vacation of those who hold this status.

If after all the variables assessed in the scales are set records with equal scores are ranked according to the applicant's birth date.

In the case of children with disabilities who accompany their parents, have no weight whatsoever, assuming in all cases the score for their parent

1. Given what is included they do seem quite cheap which they should be given that the government spends 150 million € of taxpayers money subsidising the scheme.