“The experience of the crisis of Thomas Cook a few years ago has served to establish mechanisms to cover and defend the interests of workers, companies and clients,” explains the island councilor, Carlos Álamo.
The Gran Canaria Tourism Department sends a message of calm in the face of the bankruptcy of the German tour operator company FTI, the third largest in one of the main tourist markets on the Island. The resilience of the destination, the protection guarantees of the German government through insurance – the DRSF fund – and the interest of other companies in taking on the affected clientele minimize the negative impact on the island destination due to the insolvency of the German firm. “The main concern is the possible bills that may remain unpaid, but a large majority of affected travelers will be able to continue their vacations as planned,” said counselor Carlos Álamo.
“It is a fact that we regret, being a relevant entity that has collaborated significantly, for decades, with the tourist destination of Gran Canaria. But the experience of the crisis of Thomas Cook a few years ago has served to establish mechanisms to cover and defend the interests of workers, companies and clients, in such a way that we trust that the negative effects on our destiny will be reduced to a minimum. and companies,” said the Minister of Tourism of Gran Canaria, Carlos Álamo.
Álamo explained that the department he presides over has closely followed the delicate situation of FTI, a fact that was already announced by the technical specialists of the Cabildo in the market presentations they make for the professional sector before participating in the ITB Fair in Berlin. .
“We do not believe that this situation will generate significant damage to the destination, because FTI's loss of strength has been clear and gradual in the last six, seven or eight years. The number of affected clients can be perfectly absorbed by competing tour operators. All the main ones, such as TUI and Schauinsland and Bentour, have reacted immediately and have already made offers to take over that cake on the market, without problems beyond the possible bills of the hotels that remain unpaid, which is what most “It worries us,” he said.
Regarding a loss of jobs, with a number of possibly affected workers that is around 1.500, the ministry hopes they can be relocated to other companies in the sector. “The professionals in the tourism sector of Gran Canaria are very prepared, they have many years of experience and we are convinced that, based on their assessment, they will quickly find accommodation due to the interest of other companies,” said Álamo.
“The debt of the credits acquired with the Bavarian and German Governments, mainly, during the pandemic reached a figure close to 1.000 million euros. In the end, conversations with an American investor, who sought to take over the company, have not been fruitful. The fund wanted the German Government to forgive that debt, but it is known that it will not accept, since many other tourism companies did return their aid," explained the counselor responsible for the tourism area of the Cabildo regarding the situation of FTI, which argues lack of liquidity.
“It is true that it is the third tourist group in Germany and one of the largest in Europe. That, of course, implies many clients for our destination, but the reality is that FTI had lost a lot of ground and market volume, especially with Spanish and Canarian destinations. Therefore, currently the forecast represents less than half of the clients that it moved before the pandemic,” argued Álamo, regarding a drop in clients.
For the current year, FTI had a forecast of around 64.000 clients from all issuing countries, 35.000 of these clients being from Germany, with the rest of the reservations originating in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, France, and Austria, mainly. “From Germany they intended to bring 35.000 clients to Gran Canaria. A low figure considering that before the pandemic they moved 80.000 visitors to Gran Canaria,” added Carlos Álamo, before assessing the forecast as “slightly optimistic, since in 2023 they brought 52.000 clients to Gran Canaria, 30.300 of them from Germany.
He also explained that FTI is majority owned by an Egyptian businessman, with many hotels in Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey, which is why they had redirected their sales to competing destinations in the Canary Islands.
In the Canary Islands, FTI operates with about 20 hotels, but the majority are leased establishments, “they are in operation, without being their own, so they will foreseeably be able to continue operating if other operators acquire and market those beds. We do not see a major problem and we understand that this will prevent a loss of jobs on the Island,” said the counselor.
The Minister of Tourism of Gran Canaria explained that the rest of the tour operators are already negotiating with hoteliers in the destination to expand capacities.
On the other hand, of the 65.000 customers right now around the world. Many of these clients have insurance, especially important now is that of the German Government that was created in November 2021, called Der Touristik or DRSF, which allows those who have contracted at least two modules of the package to recover their money. They will receive their money. “They learned in the pandemic, in such a way that all tour operators have the obligation to pay this insurance and in cases like this it is responsible for all clients who have the tourist package or at least two contracted trip modules, in which includes 65% of those affected.”
