Greece Continues to Welcome Tourists but Sees Halt in New Hotel Bookings

Arrivals to Greece are proceeding smoothly, with few cancellations, but new bookings have not been entered in hotel booking systems so far, the president of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), Andreas Andreadis, told Greek SKAI TV on Monday night.

As of Monday morning, the Greek government launched a “bank holiday” in effect through to Monday, July 6 — one day after a July 5 referendum — in efforts to prevent banks from collapsing after the European Central Bank froze the level of funding support supplied to local lenders. And while ATM withdrawals in the country from Greek account holders is limited to 60 euros per day per account, tourists in the country, holding foreign accounts, have no problem with money transactions.

Mr. Andreadis advised Greek tourism professionals to accept all credit cards from tourists so their holidays in the country continue smoothly.

He told SKAI TV that tourists on holiday in the country have not encountered any problems so far, which is important for Greece to maintain its good image.

SETE’s president stressed that imported food and beverages served in hotels are just enough to last for up to 10 more days, as new imports to Greece have frozen due to the capital controls.