RHODES — Τhe tourist season on the Aegean island of Rhodes was officially launched on Thursday with the arrival of the first tourists from Israel, while nine flights, seven of them from Israel, are expected to land on the island during the day. According to the island's tourism sector, things are expected to go better in the coming weeks.

The first two flights arrived early in the morning from Israel while another five from Israel, one from Paris and one from Brussels are due to arrive during the course of the day.

In a statement, the regional governor of the Southern Aegean Giorgos Hatzimarkos expressed his satisfaction at the opening and his wishes for a good tourist season, underlining that "a mature tourism destination is the one that inspires trust in its visitors. We successfully brought tourists in 2020 and we will also achieve this in 2021."