Rhodes fires: government should 'rethink' official travel advice which does not advise against holidays

The government has been urged to "rethink" its official travel advice for Rhodes, which does not formally advise against holidays the Greek island ravaged by wildfires.

Up to 10,000 British holidaymakers are thought to be trying to flee the Greek island, where fires have spread rapidly in blistering temperatures. People have said they were forced to wade into the sea to escape the flames with their children, while one tourist arrived to find out her hotel had burnt down.

Thousands of families will be scheduled to fly in coming weeks to the Greek island, which has had to deal with more the 80 fires spreading across the tourist hotspot. However, the government has still not changed its travel advice to formally tell people not to go - despite Tui and Jet2 putting on multiple repatriation flights a day to get stranded holidaymakers home.

The FCDO instead is advising those who have booked holidays to any areas affected by wildfires to check with their travel operator. There are concerns that without a change in an official advice, if families choose to cancel their trip it may not be covered by insurers. Speaking during a private notice question in the House of Lords, Tory former cabinet minister Lord Young of Cookham asked if the FCDO is “really expecting families booked to go to Rhodes over the next few days to go ahead with their plans”.

Speaking for the Government, Lords deputy chief whip the Earl of Courtown said: “The FCDO travel advice should not impact people’s ability to claim insurance for things like cancelled hotel bookings or flight changes, depending on their policy and level of cover.

"We recognise however there are some travel companies that do use FCDO advice as a reference point to policies. Our travel advice is focused on ensuring the safety of British nationals and is designed to give people the detail they need to make an informed decision.”

He said the "situation in Rhodes is stabilising at the moment. The vast majority of the island is not affected by these fires".

Labour leader in the Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon said that the government should "rethink this matter". She said: “When the minister at the FCDO (Andrew Mitchell) is asked if he would go to Rhodes on holiday he admitted he wouldn’t travel there.

“And yet the Government’s advisory is not helpful – or lack of advisory – to those who are not sure if they should fly this week or not, or what the financial consequences could be.

“With the cost-of-living crisis, many people make sacrifices for their… annual holiday for a week, and I do ask the noble Lord to reconsider the reply he gave to the noble Lord Young. I’m not convinced he is entirely understanding the position of insurance companies and the struggle that many families face to pay for these holidays.”

The Liberal Democrats also said it wanted to see travel advice change and urged Rishi Sunak to call an emergency meeting. The party’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Layla Moran said: “While thousands of British holidaymakers are impacted by the wildfires on Rhodes, Rishi Sunak has shown a failure of leadership.

“The Prime Minister needs to take action and urgently convene an emergency Cobra meeting to help holidaymakers. The government must also immediately change the Foreign Office advice to essential travel only, which will enable the thousands of British tourists due to fly to Rhodes to safely cancel their holidays without being left out of pocket."

The government has deployed a team of six experts from the Foreign Office as well as four Red Cross staff members to assist British nationals at Rhodes airport.

On Monday, FCDO minister told Times Radio: “What we’re telling people to do is to keep in touch with their tourist company, and that is the right advice. It’s important to remember that only 10% of the island is affected by these fires. And therefore it is the tourist companies and the holiday experts who are best placed to give guidance on whether or not a family or individuals’ holidays are going to be ruined by these events.”

Mitchell said he wouldn't go on holiday to Rhodes at the moment: “I think I probably wouldn’t. But the point is is that if I had booked a holiday I would take advice and would take advice also from the tour operator.”

Rishi Sunak backed up the message that Britons stranded on Rhodes and Corfu should remain in touch with tour operators. The Prime Minister said: “My paramount priority is the safety of British nationals, that’s why the Deputy Prime Minister chaired a Cobra meeting yesterday, he’s been monitoring the situation closely.

“The most important thing is people remain in touch with their tour operators, there are lots of flights going back and forth to be able to bring people home, and if people are in touch with their tour operators they will get the information that they need.”

Both Tui and Jet2 have started repatriation flights out of Rhodes. Tui said: "We have cancelled all outbound flights to Rhodes up to and including Tuesday, and passengers due to travel on these flights will receive full refunds.

"Passengers due to travel on Wednesday will be offered a fee-free amend to another holiday or the option to cancel for a full refund. We are still operating flights to bring those customers currently on holiday elsewhere in Rhodes home as planned."

Some 19,000 people have been evacuated from several locations on Rhodes as wildfires burned for a seventh day, with the Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection describing it as “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country”. Local police said 16,000 people were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea from 12 villages and several hotels.

Andrew Mitchell told the Today Programme it was "undoubtedly a wake-up call" on climate change. He said: “We had, just a couple of weeks ago, the hottest day, on Monday, that the world has ever experienced. Those temperatures were then exceeded on the Wednesday for a second weekly record.

“And then on Thursday the third record in one week. The highest temperatures the planet has ever seen. Climate change is real. It is now. And it is essential that the world combats it, and Britain is playing a leading role in doing that.”