Rhodes

The implementation of visa-on-arrival applications for several Greek Islands has sparked significant interest among Turkish tourists, with Rhodes emerging as a particularly popular destination.

Over 5,000 Turkish visitors crossed from Marmaris and Fethiye in the western province of Muğla to Rhodes Island during the week-long holiday period.

Rhodes, the capital of the Dodecanese, has been luring travelers for decades now with its state-of-the-art 5-star hotels and high-end luxury boutique accommodation

TUI tourism group's head of communications, Aage Dunhaupt, has told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency that Crete, Rhodes and Kos remain top destinations for the German customers of the company, which this year is starting the summer season in Greece earlier than in any other year.

Police have made 22 further arrests for the violation of regulations on occupying public space on beaches, during raids carried out by the competent authorities on Mykonos, Paros and Rhodes.

There is a common thread linking February's deadly train crash at Tempe, July's devastating wildfire on the island of Rhodes, the explosion at an ammunitions dump in Nea Anchialos that same month and the more recent events in the Athens suburb Nea Filadelfia, and that is the complete absence of a public safety culture.

Tourists at a seaside hotel on the Greek island of Rhodes snatched up pails of pool water and damp towels as flames approached, rushing to help staffers and locals extinguish one of the wildfires threatening Mediterranean locales during recent heat waves.

The examples of the islands of Rhodes and Paros, where citizens have risen up against unlawful beach occupation, are rapidly being replicated.

In many parts of Greece, citizens are organizing and seeking ways to get assistance from the central state, as they feel useless at the local level.

Greece will offer a free week of vacation on the island of Rhodes in the eastern Aegean to those tourists who were forced to interrupt their stay due to the recent wildfires, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday.

Despite some efforts to downplay the Rhodes wildfire disaster, the 20,66 hectares of forest and farmland that burned have left an indelible mark on the island.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization is reassuring about the potential impact of the heatwaves and fires on travel in the summer months in the Mediterranean. "If someone hesitates to visit Greece in July, they should do it in September," the director of the UNWTO for Europe, Alessandra Priante, told Kathimerini.