Imserso trips go on sale: everything you need to know

BarcelonaThis week is marked on the calendar for many Catalan retirees, beneficiaries of other Social Security pensions, and their partners. Imserso, the Spanish government's social tourism program, is putting up for sale the trips for the 2026/27 season, which will begin in November and run until June.

In Catalonia, this Wednesday the program beneficiaries accredited as preferred will be able to reserve their spot, and tomorrow, Thursday, those accredited as non-preferred. Finally, on Friday, they will still be able to snap up any remaining trips.

The management of the bookings will be carried out by the companies Turismo Social and Mundicolor, the service's awardees. Therefore, it will not be possible to do it directly from the Imserso offices or by phone. In practice, those who wish to carry out the procedure in person will be able to go to the travel agencies collaborating with the program, listed on the Imserso website. According to the document consulted by ARA, there are 1,821 establishments that offer the service across the country: 1,334 in the province of Barcelona, 182 in Tarragona, 109 in Lleida, and 196 in Girona. There will be the option to do it online.

This year the campaign is marked by the changes in booking spots: the town halls that until now helped with the procedures have had to stop doing so because the agreement the federation had with the Spanish government has expired.

How does the seat reservation work?

Only those who registered at the beginning of June as beneficiaries of the program, or those who were already beneficiaries in previous seasons, will be able to opt for any of the nearly 880,000 places. To make the reservation, the interested person must present their ID card and, if doing so online, must also provide the code that appears in the letter that accredits them as a user, which they must have received during this summer.

At the time of booking, a part of the trip cost must be paid, which ranges between 40 and 55 euros, depending on the price of the trip. If the person completes the process in person at an agency, they will have to pay 15 euros at the establishment and the rest of the reservation must be paid at a bank.

Staggered access

Not everyone has access to booking places at the same time. The accreditation letter indicates what time the door opens for each participant, depending on each person's characteristics. The preferred beneficiary category – which allows booking a day before the rest – is determined by a scale of five factors, which are weighted differently: age, disability, economic situation, participation in previous seasons, and belonging to a large family.

On the other hand, the Spanish government has designed two blocks of autonomous communities to manage the process, but assures that the place of residence does not imply any kind of grievance, because "each province has an assigned amount of available trips, proportional to the number of registered elderly people". In the first few days, only this pool is available, and once they have all opened, the possibility opens up to book the trips that have remained unsold in any province. Catalonia is part of the second block, as are Valencia, Castilla-La Mancha, the Balearic Islands, and the Canary Islands, among others.