FTI Touristik failure: the story so far and knock-on effects for the UK travel trade
James ChappleOperator giant FTI Touristik filed for insolvency on Monday (3 June) sending shockwaves through the European tourism sector, with ripple effects for operators and consumers in the UK.
Despite a €125 million investment from a Certares-led consortium in April, Europe’s third largest tour operator said booking levels since then had “fallen well short of expectations”.
Parent FTI Group said that while FTI Touristik was directly affected, insolvency filings would likely follow for some of its other brands. Its portfolio includes trade-only bed bank Youtravel.com, as well as hotel brands Labranda Hotels & Resorts, Design Plus Hotels, Kairaba Hotels & Resorts, Lemon & Soul Hotels and Club Sei.
Youtravel has stressed its independence from FTI, stating it operates as a separate entity. “It is important to note that currently, only the tour operator brand FTI Touristik is directly affected by this situation," it said.
However, it went on to cancel all bookings for seven days from 4 June, and subsequently extended this to 14 June. There have been knock-on effects for Tui, Jet2holidays, Loveholidays and members of the Advantage Travel Partnership.
Advantage chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said said: "We know of a very small number of our members who have been impacted and we are offering our support," adding there would be "a knock-on impact for the supply chain across Europe and beyond".
Tui, meanwhile, has stepped in to assist holidaymakers and hoteliers affected by FTI’s demise. Tui said it would support FTI customers in the Balearic Islands, Greece, Maldives, Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
Tui said the insolvency had impacted “numerous” hotel partners. FTI owns 50 properties under its various hotel brands, many of which are sold by operators in the UK market, including by Tui.
Talks involving senior leaders at Tui are under way with hoteliers and tourist boards, as well as local authorities in Spain, Turkey, Greece and Egypt.
Jet2, which offers 10 Labranda properties in the Canaries through its contract with FTI, told TTG all holidays would remain “unaffected” by FTI’s situation.
’Intensive negotiations’
On Friday (7 June), following consultation with its administrators, FTI Touristik confirmed all trips departing up to and on Friday 5 July have been cancelled. It also confirmed another of its subsidiaries, BigXtra Touristik, had filed for insolvency in Munich.
FTI said it was continuing to work closely with Germany’s travel security fund (DRSF) to find solutions for customers and service partners with respect to departures from Saturday 6 July.
"Intensive negotiations are under way with competitors in which we are exploring whether a takeover of package holidays is possible and practically feasible”, said provisional insolvency administrator Axel Bierbach.
FTI added a decision on whether remaining bookings would be cancelled or taken over by other providers would be made "very soon".
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