Nearly 20,000 people were forced to leave their homes and hotels in Rhodes at the weekend as a fire that started a week ago spread to coastal resorts in the lush island’s southeast after burning vast swaths of land and damaging buildings.
More than 2,000 holidaymakers flew home on Monday, and more repatriation flights were expected on Tuesday. Tour operators also canceled upcoming trips.
Greece is often hit by wildfires during the summer. Climate change This has led to heatwave outbreaks across southern Europe, raising concerns that tourists will stay away.
Hundreds of firefighters, with the help of Turkish and Slovakian forces, battled to bring the fire under control close to the villages of Gennady and Vati, southeast of Rhodes, as the wildfire flared up again in hot, windy conditions.
Wildfires also broke out on the island of Corfu on Greece’s west coast and on the island of Evia near the capital Athens.
“Fires have flared up again across the country but at the moment no settlements are at risk,” a fire brigade official told Reuters.
The Greek islands are popular in summer with sun-seeking holidaymakers from across Europe, especially Britons and Germans.
TUI, one of the world’s biggest tour operators, has said it is canceling trips to Rhodes until Friday and is offering free cancellations or rebookings to other destinations. It said it had 39,000 customers on Rhodes as of Sunday evening.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry has issued a travel warning for Rhodes as well as for the islands of Corfu and Evia.
Greece has seen very high temperatures in recent weeks and temperatures are forecast to rise again by Wednesday, with some areas exceeding 44 Celsius (111.2 Fahrenheit).
Civil protection officials on Tuesday warned of an extreme risk of wildfires on the island of Rhodes and Crete.
18% of Greece’s output and one in five jobs come from tourism. On Rhodes and several other Greek islands, the dependence on tourism is even greater.