Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Greece has finally reopened to international tourism and airports are once again welcoming travellers from abroad. The tourism sector reopened with hopes of recovering itself once again during the tourism season of the year with the aim of easing an anticipated recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, it is mandatory for all tourists arriving from countries with high rates of coronavirus infections to undergo COVID-19 testing and a quarantine period of up to two weeks. On the other hand, travellers coming from countries with low infection rates will be subject to random testing but have been given the permission to avoid quarantine.
Meanwhile, flights restrictions would continue to be in force for countries having high risk of infections including the United States, the United Kingdom and Turkey. Restrictions are likely to remain in place till July 1. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a recent press statement that Greece would continue to prepare itself for a second wave of infections in the fall.
He informed that social distancing is now second nature to the world and hence such measures will continue to be active in the country. He also mentioned that hospitals across Greece has been equipped with more intensive care unit beds and the government is now more smart about testing and contact tracing. He added that the government does not wish to make Greece the number one tourist destination in Europe but looks forward to making it the number one safest destination in Europe.
He also shared that the country and the government is trying to save whatever possible from what many considered to be a completely lost tourism season. He also mentioned that while restarting the tourism sector everyone in the industry will have to normalise the usage of masks and other social distancing measures.
Tags: Coronavirus, Covid-19, greece, Greece tourism
