Greece offers 'free' holidays to travellers forced to flee Rhodes wildfires in 2023

Under the initiative, individuals who were evacuated from their hotel stays due to the fires will have the opportunity to claim e-vouchers valued from €300 to €500.

These vouchers can be applied towards the costs of accommodations for a week-long stay.

The program will be conducted in two stages: the first from now until May 31, and the second from October 1 to November 15.

“Beneficiaries can be all adult individuals, regardless of nationality, who were staying in hotels evacuated during the wildfires on the island of Rhodes in July 2023,” its website says.

“The scheme is up and running as the prime minister promised,” Myron Flouris, the Greek tourism ministry’s general secretary, told the Guardian.

“It’s been a very complicated process not least, I think, because we’re the first country in the world to do this.”

More than 5,000 holidaymakers have reportedly already signed up for the programme.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right administration unveiled the plan on ITV's Good Morning Britain shortly after numerous tourists had to prematurely end their vacations due to the wildfires, leading to their evacuation on repatriation flights.

At one point, last July, the Irish Independent reported that up to 750 Irish people were holidaying on the island as wildfires raged on its south.

Voucher amounts will depend on the star rating and room types of affected hotels guests had booked – ranging from €300 for up to triple rooms in three-star hotels to €500 for four- or five-stars “above triple room type”, according to the program website.

On a Monday visit, Mitsotakis warned that wildfires would grow due to the climate crisis.

"The Mediterranean is a climate hotspot, leading to more fires and floods," he stated at a conference in Rhodes, titled ‘EU Tourism: Resilience in the Climate Crisis Era,’ hosted by the European Travel Commission.

Thousands were forced to flee their hotels and homes because of the wildfires, in what was described as the biggest safe transport of residents and tourists Greece had carried out.

British tourists were particularly affected, with more than 5,000 on the island when the wildfires broke out last summer, resulting in holiday companies being forced to lay on repatriation flights to get people home.

Mitsotakis first made the pledge to offer the week-long holidays last year.

He said: "For all those whose holiday was cut short as a result of wildfires, the Greek government, in co-operation with local authorities, will offer one week of free holidays on Rhodes, next spring [and] next fall, so that we make sure they come back to the island and enjoy its natural beauty."