Rhodes: A ‘beacon’ for sustainable tourism?

Summer tourism in the Mediterranean is not only already in full swing but set for another bumper season.

In Rhodes, "the more the merrier” is the mantra on this famed Greek isle, which is economically reliant on tourism. But the growing influx of arrivals each year alongside increasing frequency and ferocity of the annual wildfire season is posing some hard questions for locals about the need for more environmentally-friendly forms of tourism.

Now, an ambitious five-year programme is underway, aimed at transforming the fourth-largest Greek island into “a beacon for sustainable tourism.”

We head to Rhodes to take a look at how it is progressing, how businesses are adapting, and the way tourists are responding.

(Picture: Anda Karayanni of the Irene Palace Hotel, Rhodes, tending to some plants. Credit: Victoria Craig/BBC)

Presented and produced by Victoria Craig