At Athens Airport, French Tourists Undeterred by Violent Fires

In Greece, the watchword is still caution in the face of the risk of the fire reigniting. Since Sunday, August 11, nearly 40,000 hectares have been covered by flames north of Athens, destroying many businesses and homes. At least one person has died, a tragedy that Greece seems to relive every summer, but not enough to discourage French tourists.

The hall of Athens International Airport is packed. Holidaymakers, sunglasses on their noses and straw hats on their heads, delighted to have arrived at their destination like Cécile and her husband. They have only adapted their itinerary according to the fire ravaging the north of the capital: “We looked at whether we should take a detour from the road because we were passing next to the fire. We took a small detour of an hour.”

There is no question of them cancelling their family trip: “We came to Greece because the weather is nice and we are fed up with the bad weather in Paris. Yes, it is a risk but we just have to stay informed.” Fires, an increasingly frequent risk each summer with global warming and drought. Shaden, for her part, has bet on caution: “We registered on the Ariane website, which is the prevention website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We said to ourselves that if there really is a problem, they will contact us and we will see what we do.” Greece is one of the favorite destinations for the French every summer with nearly two million travelers.