It was announced last week that the Greek island of Rhodes will offer compensation for hotel guests who were affected by the wildfires when they visited the popular vacation destination last July.
Guests signing up to the scheme — after they have proved they are eligible — will receive an e-voucher to return to the isle.
The wording of the “Rodos Week” scheme states that “beneficiaries are granted a one-time, weeklong free stay (7 days) in a hotel of similar category (star rating) and room type to the one they stayed in during the fires. The specific financial support is provided as a travel voucher (e-voucher), including a monetary value equal to what the beneficiary is entitled to.”
The highest total available is €500 ($540), and all vouchers of any value can only be used for a full seven-day visit, not a long weekend, for example.
Perhaps with the general increase in costs, airline fares and hotel stays, vacationers will not be receiving a free visit, so it seems to me.
Another barrier is that the e-vouchers can only be used between Apr. 10 and May 31 or between Oct. 1 and Nov. 15.
These are excellent periods to visit the Mediterranean, but with limited airlift to the island, supply and demand might further increase those airfares.
Let's look at the plan's Frequently Asked Questions section for more information.
Question No. 11 asks, “I was staying in an Airbnb rental accommodation during the wildfires in Rhodes. Am I considered a beneficiary?”
Answer: “No.”
Of course, Rhodes was not the only place affected by wildfires in 2023.
The Hawaiian island of Maui suffered from catastrophic fires, too, and so did — according to the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service — Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Portugal, South Africa and Spain.
There were no doubt others, some higher in the list of places noted for being vacation and hotel destinations.
A natural catastrophe can undo decades of diligent work, and the pressure to maintain tourism numbers must weigh heavily on convention and visitor bureaus.
Vacation-package and hotel firm TUI suffered economic loss, and it did admirably in its efforts to repatriate guests, although I am sure there were some horror stories, too.
A news release the firm issued last July said it had 39,000 guests on Rhodes, 7,800 of them “directly affected by the situation.”
Climate change and changing weather patterns likely will mean there will be more of this type of situation.
Tourism often is the golden egg for such places as Rhodes and Maui, but help for the sector and its guests often bristles against the perceived and actual needs of residents.
The two are linked, but at the time, emotions run high, and that argument is easily silenced.
Rhodes Lead Here
In May 2018, I visited Rhodes.
There are tourists aplenty in some part of Rhodes Town, but there are also plenty of spaces that evoke its Roman, Ottoman, Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Turkish, Italian and Hellenistic histories.
Its medieval city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I arrived on a ferry from the island of Kastellorizo, way off to the east. The entrance into the harbor past the old harbor, where once stood the gigantic Statue of Colossus — one of the seven ancient wonders of the world — is memorable.
I stayed at the small city’s Saint Artemios Boutique Hotel, a real respite from the activity outside. It dates to the 14th century. Right outside the door to the left is the mosque of Sultan Mustafa and to the right is the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Spyridon, both reached along narrow lanes that hint strongly of medieval tales.
A little walk eastward led me to the Sephardic Jewish Kahal Shalom Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Greece and the only one in Rhodes in which religious practice is continued. It is said to date to 1577.
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