Rhodes fire: Greece offers affected tourists a week of vacation

Will the tourists who were forced to interrupt their stay due to severe fires return next year? In any case, the Greek government is doing everything to convince them. During an interview with the British channel ITV, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis confirmed that “the Greek government will offer a week of free holidays in Rhodes next spring or autumn to those who have been forced to shorten their holidays due to the fires. He promises “one week of free vacation.”

“Rhoads is now more hospitable than ever, he has returned to normal life,” he assured. Fearing the consequences for this leading sector of the country’s economy, Greek tour operators recently launched a social media campaign called “Rhodes is safe” (“Rhodes is a safe place,” editor’s note) to encourage tourists to visit the “island.”

“Last minute booking”

In the midst of a heat wave, a massive fire that started on July 18 and fanned by strong winds destroyed almost 17,770 hectares in ten days in the south of this highly touristic island in the Aegean, in the southeast of the country. , according to the European Copernicus Observatory. About 20 thousand people, mostly tourists, had to be evacuated, especially on the night of July 23. At the end of July, Greece experienced the longest heat wave of July, with temperatures in many places exceeding 40 degrees, according to the National Observatory in Athens.

German group TUI, the world’s number one tourism group, and British company Jet2 have suspended their flights to Rhodes before transporting their empty planes to evacuate injured tourists. When asked by AFP about the number of possible flight cancellations, TUI replied that there was no exact figure. “Most of the customers who were unable to spend their holidays in the south of Rhodes have booked other destinations in the Mediterranean,” said a spokesman for the operator in Hannover. But as of Tuesday, TUI is once again offering organized trips to the island. “The desire of customers to go there is great, now we are planning a last minute booking,” he also said.