Holidays for pensioners go on sale on Friday

PALMA
STARTING on Friday, 10'000 pensioners and retired people will be able to travel between the islands for a price of 125 euros, due to the new edition of the Balearic Government's programme, Pla Oci 60, presented yesterday by the Balearic Minister for Tourism, Joan Sastre.

This year, for the first time, the programme (which has been in place for 11 years), will have a single price for the journeys, without taking into account the distance between the islands.

While last year the pensioners who travelled between Minorca and Ibiza had to pay 70 euros more, 180 in total, than those who made shorter journeys (110 euros), now the Balearic Government is asking the same price for all the islands.

The holiday packages, which will go on sale on Friday at 9am in 300 travel agents on the islands, consist of eight days full board in three star hotels. “During the first day 65 percent of the places are normally sold”, said the commercial director of Mundosenior, Juan Manuel Molina, during a press conference.

Minister Sastre announced that this year the offer of 1'500 places in Benidorm, which was started last year, will continue, and recalled that these journeys are reciprocal, so retired people from that area will come to the Balearics.

The first departures are scheduled for October 17 and 18. Sastre said that these holidays have a double advantage.
The first is social, as they allow people over 60 years old to enjoy holidays at an affordable price, and the second is economic, as it continues tourist activity during the low season.

The Minister repeated the promise of the last Balearic Government to increase the places available for journeys throughout Europe, although he did not specify the countries with which the exchange agreement would be made. He said that heads of his department had twice gone to Brussels to meet heads of the European Commission and they will also try to manage European exchanges through the Spanish Ministry of Labour.

With regard to the possibility of extending the offer to other Spanish regions, Sastre confirmed that it is one of his objectives and he is already in contact with Catalonia to talk about the possibility of exchanges.