Security Level on Greek Rhodes High Regardless of Refugee Influx

The security level on the Greek island of Rhodes is always high and does not depend on whether there is an influx of refugees, Marietta Papavasileiou, the vice governor of tourism for Greece's South Aegean region, said Thursday.

RHODES (Sputnik) — The Aegean Sea is one of the main transit routes for refugees heading for Greece from the Turkish territory, however, recently the inflow of refugees has slowed to a sto.

"There are almost no refugees on Rhodes Island at the moment. The inflow of migrants has stopped. I want to draw [your] attention to the fact that the security level on the Dodecanese islands, including Rhodes, is always high regardless of whether there is an influx of refugees or not," Papavasileiou told Russian reporters.

According to Papavasileiou, the refugee influx has stopped following the closure of EU borders, as refugees have realized that they will not be able to move further to Europe from Greece and that they will be sent back to Turkey.

"The presence of refugees on Rhodes did not affect the life on the island and tourism last year. The number of tourists who spent their vacations there remained the same as in 2014. According to preliminary bookings, we will have the same tourism numbers in 2016," the official noted, adding that "the refugee influx unlikely to bypass the Rhodes island".

The EU states are currently struggling to deal with a refugee influx, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

In mid-March, the European Union and Ankara agreed on a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive to the European Union through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees accommodated in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis. The flow of migrants from Turkey to Greece have been decreasing since the entry into force of the EU-Ankara refugee deal.