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Irish Citizens Advised Not To Travel To Greek Islands Impacted By Wildfires

The Department of Foreign Affairs is urging people not to travel to parts of Greece affected by wild...
Caoimhseach Connolly
Caoimhseach Connolly

10:08 AM - 24 Jul 2023



Irish Citizens Advised Not To...

News

Irish Citizens Advised Not To Travel To Greek Islands Impacted By Wildfires

Caoimhseach Connolly
Caoimhseach Connolly

10:08 AM - 24 Jul 2023



The Department of Foreign Affairs is urging people not to travel to parts of Greece affected by wildfires.

Thousands have been evacuated to safety from the islands of Rhodes, Corfu and Evia.

The Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA), says most Irish tourists currently in Rhodes are staying in northern resorts which are largely unaffected.

President of the ITAA, Paul Hackett, says beaches in Corfu have also been evacuated:

"We're getting reports last night from evacuations from one of the beaches in the north of the island. We have no other reports of any resorts or hotels being evacuated at this stage.

"In terms of the volume of Irish consumers in Corfu, Aer Lingus have two flights a week, Ryanair has two flights a week, TUI has two flights a week, so six in total.

"So in the order of 1,000 to 1,200 Irish people on the island at any given time, and just to give that context, there are 300 flights a week to Spain".

Keith Evans from Dublin, says he and his wife were evacuated from their hotel in Rhodes on Saturday night.

He says it was hot and uncomfortable in temporary accommodation on Sunday.

"We got an alert from the Greek authorities at about 12 midnight and at about 3 o'clock in the morning we had coaches arrive at the hotel in Lindos, and they evacuated us up to Rhodes Town.

"We were put into a school with loads of other people, no facilities in it, no water, 38 degrees in the middle of the night, so it was very hot and uncomfortable".



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Climate Change Corfu Evia Extreme Weather Global Warming Greece Heatwave Holidays Rhodes Travel Travel Agents Weather Wildfires

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