A significant setback for destinations and hotels
Yıldıray Karaer highlighted the adverse effects on destinations and hotels, noting that FTI, with its own hotels, bed banks, and agency network, had a significant capacity of 1-1.5 million tourists to Türkiye. He also reminded that the Corendon Group collaborated with FTI on both hotel and airline fronts.
Insurance steps in for airlines
Following Thomas Cook's bankruptcy, Germany established a new travel insurance fund from guarantees obtained from tour operators. Karaer explained, "The money accumulated in this fund is being used for the first time with FTI's bankruptcy. Insurance has been activated on the airline side, ensuring payment to the airline when passengers return from their holidays."
Uncertainty over hotel payments
However, there is uncertainty regarding hotels. Karaer stated, "The Ministry of Tourism and local authorities are warning hotels not to charge customers, but it remains unclear whether insurance will cover the payments for guests currently staying in hotels. Moreover, FTI’s customers in Germany are not allowed to travel with their existing reservations. The main ambiguity is about payments for guests already in hotels and those who stayed previously and have pending payments. Advanced checks have been issued for past guests, but collecting these checks is currently challenging."
FTI's gap is not easily filled
Can the gap left by FTI be easily filled? Karaer responded:
"FTI's customers are now rebooking through other tour operators like TUI, DER Touristik, Schauinsland Reisen, and Bentour. We observe this from the number of reservations at our hotels. However, finding customers in June, July, or August is not the issue. The challenge is to attract the same customers to Türkiye during the shoulder seasons and winter. FTI was particularly strong in bringing a high number of tourists to Egypt and Türkiye during the winter season, and their absence will be felt."
FTI employed aggressive marketing tactics and achieved high sales with its resources. Therefore, the gap created by their exit cannot be immediately filled. However, by 2025, we expect the market to stabilize,"
