ITAA advise people travelling to Greece to check with travel agent before departing

Vivienne Clarke

The President of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA), Paul Hackett has advised any people due to travel to Greece this week to check with their travel agent or if travelling independently to check the location of their accommodation to see if it is an area impacted by the fires.

Airlines must continue to fly into the islands of Rhodes and Corfu while airports remain open, he told Newstalk Breakfast and RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland. The flights are important so that people who want to return home can do so.

Mr Hackett explained that the fires in Rhodes were on the south of the island and the northern end, where the airport is located, remains safe. The advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs was to be “sensible” he said and to avoid areas where the fires were burning.

Once the airport remains open and airlines continue to fly into these destinations then if a person chooses not to travel they will not be eligible for a refund, he said. The situation was evolving so he advised people to contact their travel agent or accommodation.

The Greek authorities had been very efficient in evacuating holidaymakers, there had not been any casualties. However, he acknowledged that staying in the emergency centres was not comfortable.

Dubliner Keith Evans told Newstalk Breakfast that it had been very hot and uncomfortable when he was evacuated from the southern resort of Lindos to Rhodes. There had been no facilities and no water. He had gone to the airport to try to get a flight home, but could not do so and had since returned to his hotel in Lindos when told it was safe to do so.

There had been a shift in the wind and smoke had moved in the direction of his hotel. “You could smell it, taste it.” He had feared that roads would be “boxed in” by fire, but he now felt safe. The volunteers at the emergency centre had been “brilliant”, he said, but “TUI were of no assistance. They need to get their act together.”