Dodecanese

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 president of the Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourist Agencies (HATTA), Lysandros Tsilidis, has said that the summer season and especially August is not expected to see a drop in tourism flows to Greece as a result of the wildfires on Rhodes and other destinations. 

Tens of thousands of Athenians left the capital on Saturday in what is traditionally the largest summer holiday exodus. 

Some 50,000 olive trees and 2,500 animals and beehives were destroyed in the recent fires on the Dodecanese island of Rhodes, according to an initial estimate by the Ministry of Rural Development and Food.

Most of the damage to the island's plant capital was in the areas of Apollona, Asklipio, Gennadi and Vati, a team from the Hellenic Agricultural Insurance Organization established.

The Mihalos Foundation, represented by Chairman Peter Mihalos, last weekend signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Elliniko-Argyroupoli mayor and president of the association for the protection of Mount Hymettus, Giannis Konstantatos, for the foundation to implement initiatives concerning island path networks and the protection of the environment, during the Nisyrian Dialogues conference o

Authorities have called on people in Plimmiri and Lachania, two southern Rhodes villages, to evacuate in the direction of Apolakkia due to wildfires in the area in a message sent via the emergency number 112.

A short time earlier, residents in Genadi and Vati, also on Rhodes, were ordered to evacuate to Lindos, for the same reason.

Greece battled to contain wildfires on the island of Rhodes for a seventh day on Tuesday, as hundreds of tourists who had been forced to evacuate in previous days were expected to fly back to their countries.

Rhodes' iconic fallow deer - statues of which stand as emblems at the entrance to the southeastern Aegean island's Mandraki Harbor - are being decimated by the raging wildfire tearing through forests, hillside villages and seaside resorts.

Thousands of tourists and residents fleeing wildfires on the Greek island of Rhodes took refuge in schools and shelters on Sunday, with many evacuated on private boats as flames threatened resorts and coastal villages.

Thousands spent the night on beaches and streets during what Greece said was its biggest safe transport of residents and tourists in emergency conditions.

Tourists wait for departing planes at the airport, after being evacuated following a wildfire on the island of Rhodes, Greece, on July 23, 2023. [Fedja Grulovic/Reuters]