Tui posts travel alert for holiday-makers visiting fire-stricken Rhodes

Wildfires in Rhodes have caused more than 20,000 people to be evacuated.

Jimmy Nsubuga
Updated ·2 min read
RHODES ISLAND, GREECE - JULY 25: Smoke rises as teams try to extinguish wildfires on Rhodes island, Greece on July 25, 2023. Some 19,000 people have been evacuated from the Greek island of Rhodes as wildfires continued burning for a sixth day, authorities said on Sunday. As many as 266 firefighters and 49 fire engines were on the ground battling the blazes, assisted by five helicopters and 10 airplanes. (Photo by Ahmed Abbasi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Smoke rises as teams try to extinguish wildfires on Rhodes island. (Getty)

Travel firm Tui has cancelled all flights to Rhodes up to Friday as the Greek island continues to be besieged by wildfires.

Temperatures of more than 40C have led to an outbreak of fires across islands in Greece, with the blaze in Rhodes causing more than 20,000 people to be evacuated.

TUI has now confirmed it has cancelled all outbound flights to Rhodes up to and including Friday, and has also cancelled flights for customers travelling to impacted hotels up to and including Sunday.

The travel firm will also not be selling package holidays to the destination until 11 August.

Read more: Fires rage in Greece as military mourns water-dropping plane pilots killed in crash

TUI Airlines Belgium Boeing 767-300ER aircraft as seen on final approach flying, landing on the runway and taxiing at Eindhoven Airport EIN performing a rare Dutch domestic route. The wide-body Boeing B767 passenger airplane arrives from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and has as a destination a charter flight to Bardufoss in Norway with flight number OR9531. The jet plane has the registration OO-JNL and the name Sunshine. TUI fly former Jetairfly, ArkeFly, is a Belgian scheduled and charter airline, subsidiary of TUI Group, the German multinational travel and tourism company, largest leisure company in the world, and TUI airlines. The aviation industry and passenger traffic are phasing a difficult period with the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic having a negative impact on the travel business industry with fears of the worsening situation due to the new Omicron variant mutation at the fifth wave. Eindhoven, the Netherlands on February 9, 2022 (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Tui has offered refunds to customers. (Getty)

A statement from Tui at 1pm on Wednesday said: “We appreciate that anyone travelling to Rhodes in the near future may be concerned about their holiday, and we want to keep you updated on our plans and will be in direct contact with customers if anything changes.

“We will not be operating all outbound flights to Rhodes up to and including Friday 28th July.”

Read more: UK Foreign Office changes advice as wildfires blaze in Rhodes and Corfu

TUI said it would still operate flights from Rhodes back to UK and Ireland as scheduled.

It added that all flight-only customers due to travel on the impacted flights would receive full refunds, and package holiday customers would have the option to amend their booking or cancel with a full refund.

Jet2 also confirmed on Tuesday that all flights and holidays to Rhodes remained cancelled up until Sunday.

Watch: Evacuations Ordered for Rhodes Towns as Wildfire Spreads

It comes after travel journalist Simon Calder tweeted that holidays to Rhodes were currently half-price due to the fires.

He compared the cheapest Tui package to Turkey for a week (£590) to a package deal to Rhodes which was half the cost.

Calder added flight-only deals were also much cheaper with Birmingham to Rhodes for a week currently at £116 return.

Wildfires continue to cause disruption across southern Europe and North Africa, with blazes on the Greek mainland and islands of Corfu, Evia and Rhodes, as well as in Italy, Tunisia and Algeria.

On Wednesday, Spain's Balearic islands became the latest area to be put on 'red alert' over the high risk of wildfires breaking out as a result of the scorching heat –with temperatures on some islands reaching 40C.

The alert comes as many Brits reconsider their travel plans and more flights are cancelled over the wildfires.

The UK government's travel advice to areas hit by fires includes ensuring the correct insurance is in place, and signing up for local emergency alerts.