FTYI tourism collapse disrupts vacations for 175,000 travellers

Two weeks after the German travel agency's bankruptcy was announced, the worst-case scenario has come true. All planned trips have been cancelled, meaning no vacations for at least 175,000 tourists.

At the beginning of June, the third-largest travel agency in Europe, Germany's FTI Touristik, declared bankruptcy. At that time, its representatives assured that they were working to ensure that "trips that have already started can be completed as planned." Information also emerged that only trips planned until July 5, 2024, would be cancelled. Meanwhile, refunds for affected tourists were supposed to start within two weeks.

However, FTI's bankruptcy trustee, Axel Bierbach, announced the cancellation of all trips with a start date of July 6. This means the cancellation of vacations for 175,000 people.

The situation of tourists who bought trips from FTI Touristik is complicated because some companies serving FTI customers at their destinations have also ceased to exist.

For now, it is unknown what the total value of the trips is, but it is undoubtedly hundreds of millions of euros (approximately CAD 450 million to CAD 750 million). The purchased vacations include organized events and individual tourist services bought at FTI group offices, such as FTI Touristik, Big Xtra, or 5 vor Flug.

FTI Group was the third-largest tourism company in Europe in terms of turnover, following TUI Group and Der Touristik. The company employed 11,000 people worldwide. The last bankruptcy of a similar scale occurred in 2019 when the travel giant Thomas Cook collapsed. After the bankruptcy of this travel agency, nearly 600,000 tourists faced problems returning home.