Even as fires still burned on the island of Rhodes, forcing 19,000 people – mostly tourists – to flee for their lives, and there were blazes on Evia, Corfu, and the mainland, the question arose whether visitors would keep coming.
The images of the evacuations were stark and gripping, and likely unsettling for the Tourism Ministry, with its leader Olga Kefalogianni, largely out of sight and blaming climate change for the fires – that happens almost every summer.
The United States National Public Radio (NPR) talked to Doug Lansky, a global tourism expert based in Sweden about the effect of the fires – there was also a brutal record heatwave going on – and how it would impact tourism revenues.
That came as tourists on Rhodes were being taken back on home repatriation flights sent by their countries and the government earlier downplayed the risk and danger, saying only about 10 percent of the island was affected.
But one of the world’s largest tour operations, TUI, canceled flights to the island for the rest of July amid worries fires could continue or break out again as the government scrambled to deal with the new crisis.
NPR host Leila Fadel asked Lansky: “So this mass evacuation, the wildfires, the heat, how is this going to impact tourism in Greece?”
He said the scenes have hurt tourism widely because they coincided with a heatwave blanketing the Mediterranean, temperatures in Greece hitting a record 115.52 degrees one day and regularly over 100 degrees for days.
“It’s just been so incredibly hot. So even if it’s not on fire, it’s been scorching hot. And people have been fleeing some of these areas already … it’s an enormous part of the economy, and they’re reeling. It’s been – this is very difficult. It’s a trying time for them. But it may not be as bad as it seems everywhere,” he said.
Asked what he meant and what would happen if the heat and fires strike again in 2024 in Greece, which has been unable to stop them, he said that tourists, many working from home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, could change when they come to months other than the summer.
“They realize they can work from just about anywhere, which means that they may not need to go, as many people – need to go just during the summer months, the classic time to go traveling,” he said.
“They might be able to take advantage of some of those times, those long weekends in the fall or a week here and there, when it’s a better time to visit,” he said, especially in the early spring or autumn in Greece when the weather is good, prices cheaper and fewer people coming.
Greece had been successful in getting people to come during off-peak periods and throughout the year, including the winter, by pitching alternative tourism ideas not dependent on the sun, beaches, and islands.
But for those with families and children in school, the summer is the only option for them. “There are still people with kids – that’s when they’re out of school. And people are going to be able to travel to those spots only in the summer,” he said.
He also noted how on Rhodes, because of his geographical shape, the fires swept toward an area with hotels and resorts but that elsewhere on the island there weren’t any worries about fires.
That, he said, was a good indicator despite some airlines canceling flights to the island and with the big August month – as well as September – crucial for the economy there.
“They had clear, blue skies, there was no interruption in electricity, and everything is fine. I thought I actually might try to book there, so I checked on the prices. They’ve only dropped about 10 percent.
“And for most of the tourist areas on the island, everything is up and running, they said. So it’s important that you call the hotels, check the conditions, and most of them are still very much open for business,” he advised.
Read more at thenationalherald.com
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