The end of an era for the third, largest, tourism group in Europe, the German FTI, whose reservations will not be valid from the day after tomorrow, June 5, 2024, as he informs in a letter sent to his hotelier partners, which was secured by “MONEY & TOURISM”.
The letter states:
“We are contacting you to inform you of an important development in the current state of our company.
On Monday, June 3, 2024, our company filed an application to open insolvency proceedings at the Munich District Court. This decision was not taken lightly and is the result of a series of unforeseen circumstances, which have affected our financial stability.
As a consequence of this development, we regret to inform you that all bookings arriving from 5 June 2024 onwards will be cancelled. We understand the inconvenience this may cause and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to your operations.
At the moment we are working with difficulty to settle this process. Our primary goal is to ensure a fair and orderly solution for all parties involved.
We deeply appreciate the cooperation we have built with you over the years and are committed to informing you of any further developments. We will make every effort to minimize the impact of this situation on our partners and customers.
We appreciate your understanding and patience during this difficult time.
Thank you for your continued support.”
It is noted that, following the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook in September 2019, the bankruptcy of FTI is the second major bankruptcy of a tour operator in the German market.
In mid-April, the company announced that a consortium led by Certares, a U.S. investment firm specializing in travel and tourism, would take over the group in full, providing it with €125 million. euros in new funds to support its next phase of development. A month ago, in early May, FTI announced that Certares would assume its financial obligations. However, the plan… It foundered, leading the group to bankruptcy.
