Greece to offer tourists who had to flee wildfires a free week’s vacation on Rhodes

By AFP 2 August 2023, 2:17 pm

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German tourists together with local residents try to extinguish a fire, near the seaside resort of Lindos, on the Aegean Sea island of Rhodes, southeastern Greece, on Monday, July 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Tourists who had to flee wildfires on Greece’s Rhodes island can return for a free week next year, the prime minister says.

Fed by scorching temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds, a two-week inferno sparked chaos at the peak of Greece’s busy summer tourist season.

Tens of thousands of visitors and locals fled from hotels and villages on Rhodes and hundreds more were evacuated in Corfu and other areas.

“The Greek government will offer one week of free holiday on Rhodes next spring or fall for all of those whose holiday was cut short due to the wildfires,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tells Britain’s ITV channel.