Greece will welcome foreign tourism this summer
The Greek Ministry of Tourism announced on May 29 that the national lockdown imposed by the pandemic will end on June 15, reactivating the flights to Athens and Thessaloniki for 29 countries both within the European Union and outside it.
The nations that will be able to travel to Greece, to which new names will be added as of July 1, have been selected based on the decrease in the number of infections by coronavirus and they are the following:
Until June 15, international flights are only allowed to Athens
Albania, Australia, Austria, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Japan, Israel, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Hungary, Romania, New Zealand, Norway, Serbia , Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, South Korea and Finland.
"The list of 29 countries was formed after a study of the epidemiological profile of the countries of origin of tourists and after taking into account the publications of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), as well as the relevant recommendation of the Committee on Infectious Diseases", explains a statement from the Ministry announcing the decision.
Also, from the first day of next month airlines will be allowed resume international flights to the Greek islands , including paths such as Frankfurt-Mykonos, Zurich-Santorini or London-Corfu.
Greek Tourism Minister Haris Theocharis and Deputy Minister Manos Konsolas , they stated in a joint declaration that the reopening of the borders will take place gradually while monitoring how the epidemiological situation progresses both in Greece and in the beneficiary countries of the removal of border restrictions.
THE PHASES
The process of reactivating summer tourism in Greece will follow the following steps:
Phase 1 (until June 15): international flights they are only allowed at the Athens airport. All travelers arriving in Greece, regardless of their nationality, will undergo a mandatory Covid-19 test , as well as They will spend the night in a designated hotel.
On July 1, direct flights to the Greek islands will be reactivated
If the test is negative , then the passenger will be put in quarantine for 7 days. If the test is positive, the passenger is put in Quarantine under supervision for 14 days.
Phase 2 (from June 15 to June 30): It's allowed international flights to Athens and Thessaloniki. With the arrival of the new normality at the airports of these cities, the mandatory tests and quarantine will be limited to those travelers, regardless of their nationality, arriving from affected areas with high risk of transmission of Covid-19 , taking as a reference the evaluation of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
If the visitor comes from one of the affected areas of the AESA, You will be tested upon arrival and you must spend the night in a designated hotel. If the test is negative, he will self-quarantine for a week, and if it is positive, he will be quarantined under supervision for 14 days.
Secondly, travelers coming from destinations that do not appear on the list regularly updated by AESA, will enter without restrictions and may be subjected to random testing upon arrival.
All of these measures can undergo possible future changes for certain countries based on their number of new infections.
Thessaloniki invites you to live it
In addition, in this phase the arrivals at the land border of tourists (submitted to random testing for coronavirus) who come from Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Phase 3 (from July 1 onwards): will be allowed international flights at all airports in Greece and arrivals by sea. Visitors will be randomly tested upon arrival.
Lefkada, Greece
In this way, Greek tourism will be activated again this summer without losing sight of these four objectives:
1.Make a careful selection, according to health criteria, of the countries of origin of the tourists.
2.Carry out sampling tests allowing experts to continually assess the situation.
3.Follow current health protocols to ensure the reduction of the spread of the disease.
4. Obtain the sanitary shield of each destination so that neither residents nor visitors are exposed to danger.