Alex Trelinski
A LEADING German tour operator- FTI- has filed for insolvency putting at risk thousands of holidays including a major raft of bookings to Spain- especially to the Balearics.
FTI Group, which describes itself as Europe’s third-biggest tour operator, said parent company FTI Touristik GmbH, had filed an application to go insolvent at a Munich court.
An estimated 300,000 customers are said to be affected according to estimates from the German Association of Travel Agencies.
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The biggest German tour operator, TUI, said they would be open to helping some customers depending on the ‘nature of the bookings and the support required’.
Meanwhile some hotels in Spain- especially in the Balearics- are wondering what is going to happen both with customers and payment from FTI for reservations.
Reports suggest that most hotels had been operating on a pre-paid basis for months.
Travellers who booked a holiday package with FTI are covered by the German Travel Safety Fund (DRSF).
This was set up in 2021 after the shocks in the tourism sector that led to the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook and then the Covid-19 pandemic.
FTI announced on its website that it is obliged by law to cancel all booked services, but that the DRSF will guarantee the refund of payments for people on a package holiday.
People who booked services separately online are not covered by the fund.
The Mallorcan agency, Sidetours, is the exclusive agent for FTI in the Balearic Islands and issued a statement to reassure hoteliers- both chains and independents- that ‘we will meet our commitments’.
“We will talk to everyone individually to come up with the best solutions,” the company added.
Sidetours is not only responsible for alloing after FTI customers in the Balearic Islands but right across Spain(with the exception of the Canaries) and Portugal.
“We are well aware of the implications that this announcement has at the start of the high season,” they said, adding that reservations are being ‘thoroughly’ assessed on a case-by-case basis.
They stressed that customers with a holiday package- the vast majority- will have to wait for FTI’s instructions to sort out their return home.
That also applies to people who were about to go on vacation.
