Is it safe to travel to Greece? Tourism minister makes plea to visitors as wildfires rage

As wildfires sweep across Greece the effect on tourism is being felt.

The industry accounts for a large part of the country’s GDP, making up 18.5 per cent of the Greek economy last year.

Fires on the islands of Corfu and Rhodes have already seen mass evacuations of tourists. In Rhodes, 10 per cent of the island's hotel capacity has been effectively shut down due to risks to both locals and holiday goers.

Last weekend saw 19,000 people, mostly tourists, evacuated from the island in the largest evacuation due to fire in Greece ever. On the western island of Corfu, 2,000 people were relocated by land and sea away from fire risk areas.

Although wildfires are common within Greece during the summer, Europe’s scorching heatwave - causing dry conditions - and high winds have caused many blazes to start all at once.

“Temperature and wind have definitely enabled these fires, and conditions like these are becoming far more likely with climate change,” Dr Mathew Jones, researcher at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, UK, explains to Euronews Travel.

“Cooler weather will help [quell the fires], so to some extent we are hoping for a shift in the jet stream."

“Ultimately, the cause of the fire will go down as arson, but it’s changing weather under climate change that is producing more frequent opportunities for events like these.”

The fires on Rhodes and Corfu are just two out of many that the country is battling. Fires are also raging in other parts of the country such as Viotia, a region northwest of Athens, and the island of Evia on the Attic Peninsula, with 64 new fires recorded across the country on Sunday alone.

Temperatures are expected to drop noticeably in most of the country on Thursday, though are expected to pick back