That the Government could help those not able to go to Rhodes in a simple way

[LlynTegid]

By the Foreign Office saying 'essential travel only'? At least allows for insurance claims to reduce the amount anyone is out of pocket.

They could. They seem to have chosen not too.

If the govt declares essential travel only, thousands of families who've booked in the safe areas of the islands and WANT to go, would lose their holiday for no reason at all. So no, it would be a stupid thing to do.

Yep that, plus if the FCO system doesn't have much credibility in some quarters as it stands right now.

If it has to portray exaggerated levels of risk just to satisfy consumer sentiment then it will have zero credibility at all..

As per your title@LlynTegid if people who've booked are "not able" to go, their insurance will pay out. Howevere, if they choose not to go, even though their hotel is in a safe part, then no, their insurance company won't pay out. Because why should they? It's not up to the government to make a major decision that will enable them to be compensated for something that's their own choice.

Exactly what people are missing here. They can't just declare a 5-10 mile radius unsafe, it would have to be the whole island and then all the people who want to travel to areas where there is no issues (the vast majority) would not be able to as their insurance would not be valid.
Also, who do you think pays for all these insurance pay outs, other customers of course!
So no they aren't stupid, incompetent, helping out their mates, getting money from the insurance companies they own - they are doing what a govt should do which is looking at the wider picture and not giving in to the daily mail sad face crowd (like they usually do!).

I just wouldn't work. Insurance premiums would be unaffordable next summer.

Imagine the government having to bail out uninsured holiday makers next year due to fire or flooding....

I think it's up to the Greek authorities to decide what they can cope with.

At the moment it seems that they have enough resources available for the affected areas.

On a personal level, I wouldn't go and rather loose the holiday.

The government need to declare exactly the current state. They need to ignore the insurance claims, or if it will disrupt holidays - they should be impartial.

it is not the government’s job to help people claim on their insurance, nor to ensure people get to go on holiday.

they need to tell it like it is.

Read it again... That's not what op is saying

I think the total evacuations of some the hotels has been a little premature by the looks of it.

I understand the urge to be cautious obvs - but making hundreds of people leave their hotels in the middle of the night to trudge miles up the road on foot only to be sent back to their hotels 12 hours later and told they can stay, seems like the decision making process out there is a bit out of kilter.

Because the rest of the island is fine and they cannot afford to lose so many tourists.

Ridiculous idea.

If your holiday is cancelled then your insurance will pay out. If you choose not to go even if the area you’re going to is safe, then that’s on you. Why should other customers be penalised for individual choices.

And if there was travel advice then those who still wanted to go would be penalised because they would have no choice but to cancel as their insurance would be invalid.

And that’s before we get to the perfectly well equipped hotels and businesses in a non wealthy country who would potentially end up going out of business due to such significant loss in revenue.

Wild fires are common in Greece. As hurricanes are in the states/the Caribbean, travelling to these places at certain times is an occupational hazzard. It’s certainly not the government’s job to police individuals’ decisions.

Foreign office advice should be reserved for genuinely dangerous situations, such as war-torn countries or countries with serious unrest etc. Countries like Afghanistan are on the list, you can hardly compare Greece to that.

Foreign office advice should be reserved for genuinely dangerous situations, such as war-torn countries or countries with serious unrest etc. Countries like Afghanistan are on the list, you can hardly compare Greece to that.

I was thinking the same earlier. The BBC seemed intent on having the phrase ''hell on earth'' used as many times as possible this morning 🙄

Fire can be very unpredictable - especially if there are high winds.

I would much prefer there to be caution in these matters. More likely to live another day!

As I understand it, there have been no casualties - something the Greek authorities can be proud of.

Nor would I

Better to act with caution in an unpredictable and very dangerous situation than have the hotel burn down with holiday makers in it because the fire suddenly changed direction or began moving faster. I doubt that ‘we were worried about being a bit premature’ would be much consolation.

You could say the same about evacuating people from any given fire alarm to be fair. Fire evacuation is always inconvenient but during fires, we are very vulnerable to death and so we have to be abundantly cautious.

No sorry I disagree. You book a flight you take that risk. Some parts are fine and to put a blanket ban requires certain thresholds to be met. People can not go and be thankful they are out of it.

Exactly there's no point going hmm...let's just wait and see how much it spreads

Of course the government should not ban all but essential travel to Rhodes. How fucking ridiculous. There are currently 23 countries across the world which have this ban for all of the country or parts and these are war torn places that have a high risk to life and are extremely dangerous for foreign visitors.

Also I strongly suspect the Greek government would be appalled at such a statement as tourism is their major earner.

Those holidaymakers affected should be paid out by their insurance (if they have it) anyway and large parts are completely fine.

The mind boggles sometimes at some people's expectations.