Greece is offering ‘free’ holidays to up to 25,000 people in what is believed to be a world first, with the government set to compensate tourists forced to flee Rhodes after last year’s brutal forest fires.
Officials say anyone who has been evacuated from a hotel on the island and cut their holiday short is eligible for vouchers of up to €500 that will cover the cost of a week’s stay.
Customers whose claims are approved can enjoy a new holiday in Greece anytime between now and May 31 or from October 1 to November 15.
About 5,000 holidaymakers have already signed up, officials claim, with many more expected to take up the offer.
The plan, called ‘Rhodes Week’, was devised by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and hoteliers in Rhodes.
It was announced to British tourists on ITV’s Good Morning Britain to raise awareness as the majority of holidaymakers evacuated from Rhodes last year were British.
The travel and tourism sector makes up a large part of the Greek economy, accounting for almost a fifth of the country’s GDP in 2022 – just one year removed from coronavirus lockdowns.
Nearly 4.5 million Britons visited Greece that year, according to official figures, with around 10,000 Britons among the 25,000 tourists evacuated from Rhodes last July following the bushfires.
Officials say anyone who was evacuated from a hotel in Rhodes and had their holiday cut short is eligible for vouchers of up to €500 to cover the cost of a week’s stay
Before the fires: The Lindian Village Beach Resort in Rhodes can be seen in this aerial photo on the Jet2Holidays website, which shows what the pool looked like before the July bushfires
Smoke and flames rise from a bushfire on the island of Rhodes as thousands of Britons flee and head home
The four-star Princess Sun Hotel was spotted last July following devastating forest fires in Greece
Greece suffered more than 600 fires in July, with temperatures reaching up to 46 degrees Celsius
“The plan is going as the prime minister promised,” said Myron Flouris, general secretary of Greece’s tourism ministry. The guard.
“It’s been a very complicated process, I think, not least because we’re the first country in the world to do this.”
Tourists who believe they are eligible for a voucher should contact the Greek government directly through a portal on the Greek website Rhodes week website.
Customers who have not been added to the register of beneficiaries by their hotels or tour operators can still register directly for the scheme, provided they provide proof of their stay and other necessary information requested on the website.
However, there are limits to the scheme, with tour operators pointing out that the vouchers can only be claimed by guests evacuated from approved hotels.
Those who stayed in private accommodation or independent B&Bs rented out through platforms such as Airbnb will not be eligible for free digs, and customers will still have to pay for flights.
“Anyone who stayed in areas affected by the fires will be eligible… it will only apply to hotels, not Airbnb-style private accommodations,” hotelier union head Yannis Papavasiliou said.
Meanwhile, it appears that only adults can claim their free accommodation, with no provision made for children accompanying them.
“Beneficiaries may include any adult person, regardless of nationality, who stayed in hotels evacuated during the forest fires on the island of Rhodes in July 2023,” an official statement on the Rhodes Now website said.
Nevertheless, hotel chiefs expect usage to increase heading into autumn as Brits look to enjoy sunny getaways later this year.
“The response has been very good and we are told it will be even stronger in the autumn,” Papavasiliou said.
The extent of damage from forest fires in Kiotari, Rhodes, Greece
Sun loungers and a pool bar at a hotel destroyed by fire in the southeast of the holiday island of Rhodes
Thousands of holidaymakers were evacuated from hotels and put on repatriation flights last July
Flames burn a hill on the island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea
Up to 10,000 British were evacuated from Rhodes
Last year, several British holidaymakers complained that their tour operators were operating flights to Rhodes as the bushfires raged out of control.
Many customers said they had not been informed by their travel agents or flight providers about the extent of the bushfires, with some travelers being escorted straight to evacuation centers as they disembarked.
Helen Tonks, a mother of six from Cheshire, said she was flown into a ‘living nightmare’ by tour operator Tui on Saturday, July 21 last year – the weekend when the bushfires were at their worst.
She told MailOnline: ‘We landed and were told: ‘Sorry, you can’t go to your hotel – it’s burnt down.’
‘We had no idea the fires were so intense or so close to the hotels.
‘Tui didn’t say anything, even when our flight was delayed. Even the conversation with the captain on the plane was optimistic. If we had known, we would never have gone.’
Photos taken in Rhodes in July showed thousands of tourists forced to abandon their belongings and sleep on beaches, airport concourses and makeshift evacuation centers such as public sports halls.
Greece battled around 600 fires in July in terribly dry conditions and temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, thanks to the ‘Cerberus’ heatwave that has hit much of southern Europe.