Greece is offering “free” holidays to up to 25,000 people in what is believed to be a world-first scheme that will see the government compensate tourists forced to flee Rhodes after last year’s brutal bushfires.
Authorities say anyone who has been evacuated from a hotel on the island and had their holiday cut short can claim vouchers of up to €500 which will cover the cost of a week’s stay.
Customers whose claims are approved can enjoy another holiday in Greece any time between now and May 31, or from October 1 to November 15.
About 5,000 tourists have already signed up, officials say, and many more are expected to take up the offer.
The plan, called “Rhodos Week”, was devised by the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in collaboration with the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Rhodes hoteliers.
It was advertised to British tourists on ITV’s Good Morning Britain to raise awareness, given that the majority of tourists evacuated from Rhodes last year were British.
The travel and tourism sector is a huge part of the Greek economy and will account for almost a fifth of the country’s GDP in 2022, just a year after the coronavirus lockdowns.
Almost 4.5 million Britons visited Greece that year, according to official figures, and some 10,000 Britons were among the 25,000 tourists evacuated from Rhodes after the wildfires last July.
Authorities say anyone who has been evacuated from a hotel in Rhodes and had their holiday cut short can claim vouchers of up to €500 which will cover the cost of a week’s stay.
Before the fires: The Lindian Village Beach Resort in Rhodes is seen in this aerial image shown on the Jet2Holidays website, showing what the pool area looked like before the July bushfires.
Smoke and flames rise from a bushfire on the island of Rhodes as thousands of Britons flee and return home.
The four-star Princess Sun hotel is seen last July following the destructive wildfires in Greece
Greece battled more than 600 fires in July amid temperatures of up to 46 degrees Celsius
“The plan is underway as promised by the prime minister,” said Myron Flouris, secretary general of the Greek Tourism Ministry. The Guardian.
“I think it has been a very complicated process, especially because we are the first country in the world to do this.”
Tourists who believe they are eligible to claim a voucher should contact the Greek government directly through a portal on the Rhodes Week website.
Customers who have not been included in the beneficiary registry by their hotels or tour operators can still register directly for the program, provided they submit proof of their stay and other necessary information requested on the website.
However, the scheme has limits, with tour operators pointing out that vouchers can only be claimed by evacuated guests from recognized hotels.
Those who stayed in private accommodation or self-catering B&Bs rented through platforms such as Airbnb are not eligible to claim free accommodation, and customers will still have to pay for flights.
“Anyone who stayed in areas affected by the fires is eligible… it will apply only to hotels, not Airbnb-style private accommodation,” said hotel union head Yannis Papavasiliou.
Meanwhile, it appears that only adults can apply for free accommodation, with no provisions made for accompanying children.
“Beneficiaries can be all adults, regardless of nationality, who were staying in hotels evacuated during the forest fires on the island of Rhodes in July 2023,” reads an official statement on the Rodos Now website.
However, hotel bosses expect take-up to increase towards the autumn, as Brits look to enjoy sunny breaks later this year.
“The response has been very good and we are told it will be even stronger come autumn,” Papavasiliou said.
The extent of the damage caused by the forest fires in Kiotari, Rhodes, Greece
Sun loungers and pool bar at a hotel destroyed by fire in the southeast of the resort island of Rhodes
Thousands of tourists were evacuated from their hotels last July and forced to travel on repatriation flights.
Flames burn a hill on the island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea
Up to 10,000 Britons evacuated from Rhodes
Last year, several British tourists complained that their tour operators were running flights to Rhodes even when wildfires were out of control.
Many customers said they were not informed by their travel agencies or flight providers about the extent of the wildfires, and some travelers were escorted directly to evacuation centers as they disembarked from their flights.
Helen Tonks, a mother-of-six from Cheshire, said tour operator Tui flew her into a “living nightmare” on Saturday, July 21 last year, the weekend the bushfires were most ferocious.
She told MailOnline: “We landed and they said, ‘Sorry, you can’t go to your hotel, it’s burned down.’
‘We had no idea the fires were as bad or as close to the hotels as they were.
‘Tui didn’t say anything, not even when our flight was delayed. Even the captain’s talk on the plane was optimistic. “We would never have gone if we had known.”
Photos taken in Rhodes in July showed how thousands of tourists were forced to abandon their belongings and sleep on beaches, airport lobbies and makeshift evacuation centers such as public sports halls.
Greece battled some 600 fires in July amid bitterly dry conditions and temperatures above 40C thanks to the “Cerberus” heatwave that hit much of southern Europe.