The concern is to accommodate the visitors who are in the country through the tour operator The FTIÂ that went bankrupt, answered the president of the Hotel Chamber of Greece, Alexandros Vassilikos, to a reporter’s question. He emphasized that it has been proven once again that tourism is not suitable for excessive optimism or complacency, because from one moment to the next many facts can be reversed.
“What we are all concerned about now is that the visitors who are in our country through this particular tour operator should be blessed with the warm hospitality of Greece. However, dealing with such problems is not always left only to the philanthropy of the hotelier, who also suffered financial losses.
A European legislative umbrella should be created immediately, which would allow member states to intervene by protecting the rights of consumers – guests as well as hoteliers. Now, for this specific case, we are working with the Ministry of Tourism and the government to investigate how the financial loss for our hotelier members can be reduced, he said.
FTI: He sent a letter to Greek hoteliers
A letter from FTI, according to which the bookings made through it will continue as normal and the amounts paid by travelers will be covered by an insurance fund, I received the hotels in Greece.
According to a post by the President of the Panhellenic Hoteliers Federation Yiannis Hatzis in X, who published a letter received by Greek hoteliers cooperating with FTI, the German Travel Insurance Fund (DRSF) will include, as provided by law , travel packages booked through FTI , 5vorFlug or BigXtra.
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“Working with DRSF, we will endeavor to ensure that our guests are able to complete their journey as planned. Please do not hold them accountable as each guest will be covered by a cover letter with billing instructions issued by DRSF,” the letter said.
At the same time, the Greek hoteliers are on the hot coals, waiting for developments.
The focus of the Ministry of Tourism
The Ministry of Tourism pointed out that the holiday packages of visitors from Germany to our country from the company in question have been paid or prepaid, so the risk of non-payment by hoteliers and other related businesses has been avoided.
According to information from the Association of German Travel Agents DRV as well as the official announcement from FTI, this means that the payments made – the full price of the trip if already paid, as well as advance payments – are protected if have insolvency. This applies to customers booking a package holiday.
The DRSF is now responsible for processing in the event of insolvency, in close cooperation with the affected organizer. This means that the DRSF is responsible, on the one hand, for refunding the price of the trip paid to the affected customers and, on the other hand, for any necessary repatriation of the guests.
The bulk of FTI’s customers are directed 70% to Crete and Rhodes, 20% to Corfu and Kos and the remaining 10% or more cover the rest of the country.