Boxes of Pfizer vaccines arrive on the Greek island of Naxos, where everyone will be vaccinated before the tourist season. Photo: Thanassis Stavrakis / AP / NTB
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Greece started the tourist season on Friday and hopes that tourists seeking sun and beaches will bring income after last year’s miserable season.
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– We are easing anchor, said Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis when he opened the tourist season during a ceremony at the Poseidon Temple on Cape Sounion near Athens.
Cafe and restaurant owners across the country are scratching their fingers after getting started.
– We hope for a good season, and that people choose our country and our island, says Alexandros Koukourakis as he sets out tables and chairs on the sidewalk outside his cafe in Chania in Crete.
—-Nurse Nikoleta Stergiou arrives on a coastguard boat with vaccines to the Greek island of Iraklia, where everyone will be vaccinated from the tourist season. Photo: Thanassis Stavrakis / AP / NTB
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Vaccine card or test
According to government regulations, anyone traveling to the Greek islands must present a vaccine card or a negative coronal test.
Europe’s largest travel operator TUI has set up 120 flights to Greece in May, with the first six on Friday and another 15 on Sunday.
Most of the islands have a less comprehensive health service than the mainland, and a vaccination campaign for the residents of the islands is well underway.
—-Quiet streets in Chora on Naxos await tourists after Greece opened the season on Friday, after a miserable year last year. Photo: Thanassis Stavrakis / AP / NTB
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Many vaccinated
So far, 4 million vaccinations have been performed in Greece, of which 1.4 million have received a second dose. Greece has a population of 10.8 million.
A catch arose when Britain put Greece on its orange list, which means that Britons on their way home must be quarantined for five days.
Not all destinations are open in Greece either. Due to a major outbreak, the island of Kalymnos is under severe shutdown.
Hit hard
The pandemic has hit Greece hard, which is heavily dependent on the tourism sector, which accounts for 20 percent of GDP. In 2020, revenues fell from 18 to 4.3 billion euros, and tourist revenues fell by 76 percent.
The Greek government is keen for the EU to introduce a vaccine certificate as soon as possible that allows for travel within the union.
The opening in Greece means that Greeks can now travel around their country for the first time since November.
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