Free holidays

Greek PM offers free holidays to tourists as wildfire compensation

Government to offer ‘one week of free holidays on Rhodes,’ Kyriakos Mitsotakis says.

BY NICOLAS CAMUT

Greece will grant tourists whose vacation was interrupted by the wildfires which devastated Rhodes a one-week free holiday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday.

"For all of those whose holidays were cut short as a result of the wildfires, the Greek government, in cooperation with the local authorities, will offer one week of free holidays on Rhodes next spring or next fall," Mitsotakis told British broadcaster ITV, adding the island was now "back to normal."

Around 20,000 people, including thousands of British tourists, were evacuated from Rhodes in recent weeks after wildfires burned through around ten percent of the island's land area.

A favored holiday destination, Greece is heavily reliant on tourism, which accounts for a quarter of its GDP.