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Imserso Booking Window Opens to Overwhelming Demand as Systems Strain and Island Slots Disappear

Scarce inventory collides with new booking rules, redefining how seniors navigate this season.

Overview

  • The 2025–26 program offers 879,213 subsidized places split across peninsular coast, insular coast and short-breaks, with Catalonia the largest destination within the coastal lot.
  • Staggered reservations began this week with preferential users first, prompting long queues at agencies, intermittent website failures and rapid sell-outs of Canary and Balearic trips.
  • New measures include pet allowances for small animals, 7,447 fixed seats at 50 euros for the lowest-income pensioners and a 100-euro surcharge for second trips or high-season departures.
  • Regional frustrations are intensifying, with Asturias agents citing roughly 17,000 places for about 175,000 eligible residents and persistent shortages of single rooms and transport-included packages.
  • Travel agents report deteriorating service quality and last-minute changes to flights or hotels, even as the program remains a key off-season driver with an estimated 372 million euros in direct impact.