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Luzi Matzig in TravelAsia
TravelAsia, August 9, 1996
By Jens Uwe Parkitny
Yet another German tour operator has gone bust. Hetzel-Reisen,
a mid-sized agent based in Stuttgart, declared bankruptcy on July
31, only two weeks after charter airline Germania took over the
company with an eye to rescue it.
The rescue plan for Hetzel-Reisen required a cash
injection of Dm20 million and an additional Dm5 million to finance
its restructuring, amounts deemed "too much" and unjustifiable
by involved parties.
It is the biggest case of insolvency of a German
tour operator so far.
The bankruptcy will impact on a string of tour operators
in Asia who were handling the company's clients.
Product manager longhaul, Susanne Schlung, told TravelAsia
Hetzel had 1,500 to 2,000 bookings for Asia in winter 1995/96
and summer 1996. The previous year's figure was 2,000-2,500.
Hetzel's agents in Asia were Nusa Dua Bali Tours
in the Indonesian island, Diethelm Travel in Thailand, Asien Incoming
in Singapore and Hong Kong and Tour East/Hemtours in Sri Lanka.
Malaysia and India were not featured in Hetzel's
programme.
Cecilia Parmeter, contracting and destination manager,
said that most of the debts to Asian agencies and partners had
been paid, adding that irregularities in payments had only occured
within the last six weeks.
"Nevertheless none of our Asian partners can
blame us for losing millions as we have settled most of our bills,"
she said.
In Thailand, Diethelm Travel's general manager Luzi
Matzig said the company was still owed almost one million baht.
He expressed surprise at the bankruptcy - Diethelm
has handled Hetzel for more than a decade.
"This proves that even good, mid-sized operators
are having problems in Europe. As an inbound operator in Asia,
you have to be careful about credit terms and become stricter."
According to Matzig, Hetzel sent more than 500 clients
to Thailand last year and more than 200 this year to date. He
said Hetzel-Reisen's two main destinations were Thailand and Myanmar.
In fact, clients of Hetzel-Reisen were travelling
in Thailand at the time of the agency's closure. "Since they
are covered by the TUI guarantee, we are servicing them as normal."
Two years ago, the government passed a consumer protection
law forcing tour operators to insure clients' payments against
insolvency or bankruptcy.
TUI and the association DRS, an assurance fund, which
was established after new regulations in 1994, have moved in to
take care of about 150,000 Hetzel clients who had already left
for their vacations when the agent went bankrupt.
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