“Greece wants to send abroad a clear message of safety, that the visitors’ safety comes first,” Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni told international media after she landed on the island of Rhodes on Sunday. Aim of her delayed visit was apparently to deal with the crisis in the tourism industry following the massive fire on the island.
Together with deputy minister Elena Rapti, Kefalogianni arrived on the island in order to help manage the situation, where over 8,000 tourists were evacuated and some of them already return to their country.
Kefalogianni met with tourism representatives on the island and at the same time, she has started a round of interviews with the international media and especially with those of Great Britain.
Right now, Greece wants to send abroad a clear message of safety, that the safety of visitors comes first, as well as the fact that Greece is in a position to face major crises, she said.
“There is no problem at the airport of Rhodes and it is very important to emphasize that only a small part of the island has been affected,” the minister told BBC Radio.
In fact, she characterized as “wrong the estimates that 50% of the island has been affected by the fire.”
She explained that the government has proceeded with coordinated actions and precautionary measures so that not a single human life was endangered or injured.
Kefalogianni stressed “it was the biggest evacuation ever occurred in Greece, as the number of people who were transferred reached 19,000, of which 16,000 were transferred by land and 3,000 by sea.”
The minister underlined that the solidarity of both the people of Rhodes and the volunteers who ran from every part of the country to help was touching.
According to Kefalogianni, “Greece wants to send a clear message of safety abroad. The safety of visitors is a priority, as is the fact that Greece is able to face major crises.”
Tourists should keep coming to Rhodes and Corfu, she stressed.
“…and it is very important to emphasize that only a small part of the island has been affected,”
That may have been true at the start of the fire but from the maps being shown now it has spread a long way to the south-south-east and is getting ever closer to the coast where most of the tourists are located. While trying to present a positive message she wants to be careful not to be complacent. The winds are pretty strong and don’t really seem to be abating over the coming days.
Well said Warwick .
But instead of posing in front of cameras why not use the money spent on travelling around on Fire fighting equipment !
I’m happy that I’m a “tourist” and not an inhabitant of Rhodes. Based upon the Ministers comment, it may be interpreted that way at least – “if you are living on Rhodes, you’re not that important”,
It would suit a Minister to phrase it at least as “First priority is HUMAN safety” and thereby also be thinking of the locals who’s homes and businesses are being destroyed.
“Tourists should keep coming to Rhodes and Corfu, she stressed.”
Well, “she would say that, wouldn’t she”! (a quote from the Profumo scandal UK 1960’s).
There are various Insurance/compensation implications if, e.g. the government of a country issues a “do not travel” notice.
The fact that a massive part of the island is inaccessible due to road closures resulting from the fires means huge numbers of tourists cannot get to/from their hotels.
Being one of those affected (albeit lucky as we managed to book an alternative hotel) it was astonishing that there were ZERO officials, announcements or guidance provided at Rhodes airport to aid those coming in and finding access to hotels in the south east was impossible.
Only Emma from TLT took responsibility to inform and help tourists – her efforts were fantastic and demonstrated everything the Greek authorities lack – organisation, responsibility and communication.