Greek and Turkish F-16s are buzzing over the remote island of Kastellorizo are creating a wave of tourist departures and accommodation cancellations on the Greek island.
Greek and Turkish warplanes flew over the skies of Kastellorizo for more than two and a half hours. Around 16:00 they broke the sound barrier, causing sonic booms.
The tourists got scared and got on their cell phones to get information and see what happened. A little later, they picked up the towels and umbrellas from the beach and left for their rooms, while those who were sleeping woke up to the deafening sound,” the tourist agent of the island, Konstantinos Papoutsis, described to Greek newspapers Ethnos.
Early Monday afternoon, the travel agencies were filled with noisy tourists and visitors who were wanting a return ticket for the first boat to Rhodes. Phones are “broken” in the travel agencies of the remote island.
“They ask us how things are while some people are cancelling for August. On Tuesday afternoon we had traffic from tourists who were wanting a ticket to leave by boat on Wednesday morning,” Papoutsis said.
Indicative of the prevailing numbness is the phone call that Papoutsis received from the captain of a luxury yacht, which sails off Cyprus and was planning to “moor” in the next few days in Kastellorizo.
”He asked me if it is safe to moor on the island. We need support from the State. We are a safe destination. We have already lost a month and a half and if we lose in August too many families will not be able to make ends meet in the winter. When someone sits in front of the television and the internet and is bombarded with horror news, it makes sense to be scared and cancel and not come to the island,” he said.
An unusually large number of tourists descending to the port on Wednesday morning was recorded by the baker of Kastellorizo.
“We laugh because we are used to living with air battles but the tourists were scared,” the baker told Ethnos.
Those workers who are on the island and are employed in construction and other work are also worried.
“We do not see things well, it is their permanent expression,” he said
Turkey violated Greek airspace a total of 48 times this year. .
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