Greece
Catastrophic forest fires in Rhodes – What are tourists doing?
Several tour operators are no longer bringing tourists to Rhodes due to the forest fires. Flights bring people who have vacationed there back to Germany. photo
© Sascha Thelen/dpa
Thousands of tourists had to leave their accommodation because the forest fires on Rhodes continue to spread. The tour operators are reacting to the situation.
Numerous villages and hotels have been evacuated on Rhodes since Saturday due to large uncontrolled forest fires. In addition to the residents, thousands of tourists also had to leave their accommodations in the high season. The German Travel Association (DRV) emphasizes that “a little patience” is now required on all sides.
Even if Tui is currently not flying tourists to Rhodes, the flight connections remain in place to fly guests back to Germany, Aage Dünhaupt, Head of Communications at Tui Germany, assured the dpa. There are similar regulations for the other countries. In addition, many travelers from Germany could cancel their flight. “We offer all guests who have booked to Rhodes by next Friday to rebook to another holiday destination free of charge or to cancel.”
Tens of thousands of tourists affected
The travel group DER Touristik is canceling some offers: “All trips to the south of Rhodes will be actively canceled up to and including Wednesday (July 26th, 2023),” said spokeswoman Angela de Sando. For all other Rhodes regions, the group offers free cancellations and rebookings until the start of the trip on July 26th.
“There are currently around 20,000 German vacationers from tour operators on the island, only a small number are affected by the evacuations,” said a DRV spokeswoman.
According to DER Touristik, its guests on Rhodes are “well and safe”. Overall, a low four-digit number of tourists were brought to other accommodations. “Should passengers of DER Touristik want to travel home early, any return flight options will be checked,” said de Sando.
The Tui Group currently has a total of around 39,000 guests from many countries on Rhodes, said Dünhaupt. 7,800 of them were affected by the fire and had to leave their homes.
According to the consumer center, travel cancellation is possible
The tour operators are in close contact with the local authorities and are working flat out on solutions for the guests affected by the evacuations, as the DRV spokeswoman assured. “If planned trips are not possible in the coming days due to the current situation, the organizers will cancel them.”
According to the Federal Association of Consumers, holidaymakers can withdraw from a package tour contract or cancel the trip prematurely if they are particularly stressed by “extraordinary circumstances” such as forest fires.