Greece is taking the first steps to welcome visitors in time for the summer holiday season. From June 15, international flights will be able to land at two airports in the country, Athens and Thessaloniki. Arrivals from a designated list of 29 countries will not need to undertake a period of quarantine upon arrival although may be subjected to random testing.
The 29 countries on the pre-approved list are: Albania, Australia, Austria, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Japan, Israel, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lebanon, New Zealand, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, South Korea, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Finland.
From July 1st, all Greek airports that can handle international traffic will reopen to flights from abroad. At that time, random screening for the virus will apply to all arriving passengers unless public health considerations dictate stricter testing, a tourism ministry official said.
Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis outlined this week that hotels operating in Greece this summer will be required to have a doctor on call and designated quarantine areas will be set up on popular island destination. For the smaller island destinations, Theoharis said specific plans have been drawn up that include the placement of 20 new analysts for Covid-19 tests and the addition of 600 intensive care beds.
Theoharis said the measures were aimed at enhancing coronavirus case surveillance and management at holiday destinations.
Greece, along with Portugal and Spain, have seen a significant jump in international flight bookings for July and August, according to travel analytics firm ForwardKeys. Between May 20 – June 3, the number of international flight tickets issued for Greece increased from effectively zero to 35 percent of what they were during the same period in 2019.
Travelcoup has a wide range of tours and activities available across Greece.
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