Tourism Campaign for Fire-stricken Rhodes to Launch

The Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes.

A campaign promoting Rhodes in its main tourism markets is expected to launch soon to support the areas of the island that were affected by the recent wildfires, it was announced on Friday.

The soon-to-launch campaign is one of the three actions to support the island’s tourism announced by the Greek government during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Maximos Mansion.

During the meeting, the PM and ministers held a video conference with local authorities and tourism bodies and focused on key measures to support the island’s residents and businesses, given that there is no longer an active fire on the island and the state of operational emergency has ended.

Three actions

Along with the launch of a tourism campaign, the government will offer direct support for affected residents and businesses through the state aid mechanism and regional and municipal authorities will immediately begin the restoration of road networks and public beaches.

In the affected areas, the reopening of businesses that are ready to welcome visitors again is already underway, while the state aid arm of the Civil Protection authority has moved ahead with registering damages for compensation.

During the meeting it was made known that inspectors have determined that six buildings on the island must be demolished, while another 39 have suffered les serious damage from the fires.

The support measures for the the island’s tourism will be presented in detail next week.

The meeting was attended by Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni, Minister of State Akis Skertsos, Deputy Minister for Tourism Elena Rapti, Deputy Minister to the PM and Director of the PM’s Office Ioannis Bratakos, South Aegean Regional Governor George Hatzimarkos, Rhodes Mayor Antonis Kampourakis, Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) President Yiannis Paraschis, Hellenic Chamber of Hotels President Alexandros Vassilikos, Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) Secretary General Dimitris Fragakis and Marketing Greece President Ioanna Dretta.