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. “There are currently around 20,000 German vacationers from tour operators on the island, only a small number are affected by the evacuations,” says the DRV.
In view of the severe forest fires, travel companies are canceling flights to the island and are offering cancellations for the coming days.
Tui will no longer bring tourists to the holiday island up to and including Tuesday, according to a tweet from the group.
Even if the company is not currently flying tourists in, the flight connections remain in place to bring guests back to Germany, says Aage Dünhaupt, Head of Communications at Tui Germany. There are similar regulations for the other countries. In addition, many travelers from Germany could cancel their flight. “We are offering all guests who have booked to Rhodes until next Friday to rebook to another holiday destination free of charge or to cancel.”
The Tui Group currently has a total of around 39,000 guests from many countries on Rhodes, according to Dünhaupt. 7,800 of them were affected by the fire and had to leave their homes.
According to its own statements, the DER Touristik group is severely restricting its range of travel: “All trips to the south of Rhodes are actively canceled up to and including Wednesday (July 26),” says spokeswoman Angela de Sando. For all other Rhodes regions, the group offers free cancellations and rebookings until the start of the journey on July 26th.
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.
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.
Read all about your rights on holiday and as a guest in this overview:
