The insolvency of the Munich-based travel group FTI is generating strong growth for its competitor Alltours.

Bookings in the current financial year are more than 20 percent up on the previous year, as the company announced on Tuesday. Demand for Turkey and Egypt, the two most important markets of the tour operator FTI, which went bankrupt at the beginning of June, has seen the strongest growth. "We have taken over FTI contingents from the hotel and airline companies for the summer across all destinations and thus additionally expanded our short-term and last-minute offer," explained Alltours CEO Willi Verhuven.

The two largest German travel groups, TUI and Dertour, and others are also closing the gap left by the collapse of FTI with a wider range of offers and special conditions.

As the tourism trade medium fvw reports, company founder Verhuven (73) will hand over the management of the Düsseldorf-based travel company in October. His successor will be Jan Mayer, the former head of product at FTI. He had already announced his move to Alltours as of June 1 at the end of March.

(Report by Ilona Wissenbach. Edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any queries, please contact the editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)