“Greece wants to send abroad a clear message of safety, that the visitors’ safety comes first,” Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni told international media after she landed on the island of Rhodes on Sunday. Aim of her delayed visit was apparently to deal with the crisis in the tourism industry following the massive fire on the island.
Together with deputy minister Elena Rapti, Kefalogianni arrived on the island in order to help manage the situation, where over 8,000 tourists were evacuated and some of them already return to their country.
Kefalogianni met with tourism representatives on the island and at the same time, she has started a round of interviews with the international media and especially with those of Great Britain.
Right now, Greece wants to send abroad a clear message of safety, that the safety of visitors comes first, as well as the fact that Greece is in a position to face major crises, she said.
“There is no problem at the airport of Rhodes and it is very important to emphasize that only a small part of the island has been affected,” the minister told BBC Radio.
In fact, she characterized as “wrong the estimates that 50% of the island has been affected by the fire.”
She explained that the government has proceeded with coordinated actions and precautionary measures so that not a single human life was endangered or injured.
Kefalogianni stressed “it was the biggest evacuation ever occurred in Greece, as the number of people who were transferred reached 19,000, of which 16,000 were transferred by land and 3,000 by sea.”
The minister underlined that the solidarity of both the people of Rhodes and the volunteers who ran from every part of the country to help was touching.
According to Kefalogianni, “Greece wants to send a clear message of safety abroad. The safety of visitors is a priority, as is the fact that Greece is able to face major crises.”
Tourists should keep coming to Rhodes and Corfu, she stressed.