German tour operator FTI, burdened with a significant debt of almost 1 billion euros, is unable to meet its payment obligations. FTI is Germany’s third-largest tour operator, bringing 15% of tourists to the Canary Islands. Of the 2.5 million Germans who visited the islands in 2023, FTI accounted for nearly half a million. This generated a turnover of 800 million euros on the islands in 2023. Text continues below the podcast. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5kOas2Dnctm4EyAE5pskDt?si=b03130dc8d504e1f In addition, the tour operator manages 30 hotels on the islands, some owned and others operated, under the Labranda brand. Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura have been the most affected by the bankruptcy, with fourteen establishments in Fuerteventura and eleven in Gran Canaria, including the Marieta and Playa Bonita hotels. FTI operates three hotels in Tenerife and four in Lanzarote. The Minister of Tourism and Employment of the Canary Islands, Jéssica de León, on Monday expressed concern about the local tourism sector following the bankruptcy of the German tour operator FTI. “We have scheduled coordination meetings with tourism associations, sector associations and island councils to draw up a roadmap to mitigate the potential impact of FTI’s insolvency,” she stressed. De León also mentioned that she will discuss this issue with the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez, and wants to schedule a meeting to address the impact of FTI’s bankruptcy on the islands. “We are studying the situation thoroughly to correctly estimate the true extent of the job loss and the number of tourists affected,” De León added. “FTI was a vertically integrated group that covered almost the entire value chain. Although they didn’t have their own airline, they hired charter services or reserved seats with regular airlines,” she concluded. Photo: T. Schneider / Shutterstock.com
