Spain’s competition authority has imposed fines on four travel management companies for allegedly colluding in public-sector tenders for corporate travel services.
The CNMC (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia) levied penalties totalling €2.91 million against Viajes El Corte Inglés (VECI), Integración de Agencias de Viajes (IAG7), Nautalia Viajes, and Ávoris Retail División for their alleged involvement in manipulating contracts awarded by the Bank of Spain and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM).
The antitrust watchdog has also temporarily banned the companies from participating in public-sector bids for business travel services.
According to the CNMC, the four TMCs in October 2021 collectively agreed not to participate in a tender for travel services by Banco de España, with the aim of having the process declared void and subsequently reissued with better terms.
Additionally, Nautalia, VECI and Ávoris Retail in October 2022 allegedly agreed to share travel booking requests from UCM staff on a rotating basis. However, the authority claims that when UCM issued a travel request, it received only one offer instead of three, which reduced both the options available to users and the incentive for agencies to compete.
The CNMC stated such agreements are prohibited under Article 1 of Law 15/2007 on the Spanish Competition Act 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Each TMC has been fined €630,000 related to the Banco de España tender, while Nautalia, VECI and Ávoris Retail have been fined an additional €220,000, €60,000 and €110,000, respectively, for the UCM contract infringement.
The commission has prohibited IAG7 from public tenders for three months, while Nautalia, VECI, and Ávoris Retail have been banned for six months.
The CNMC announced its decision on 29 December 2025, following investigations that started in 2023. The TMCs have until 29 February to appeal to the Spanish National High Court.
VECI, IAG7 and Nautalia are listed among the top five TMCs in Spain in BTN Europe’s Leading TMCs 2025 report.