COVID-19 Restarting Travel & Tourism in Greece Minister Defends Reopening Greek Tourism Market in Covid-19 Times by GTP editing team 4 September 2020 written by GTP editing team 4 September 2020 3 comments Share 0FacebookTwitterLinkedinWhatsappEmail 20 Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis on Thursday highlighted the importance of Greece reopening its tourism market despite the difficult conditions due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. “When asked whether or not Greek tourism should have opened this summer, I have the data of ELSTAT to present, which shows a 15.2 percent drop (in GDP) in the second quarter for our country, while other tourism destinations had a larger decline in GDP, for example Spain by 22.1 percent and Italy by 17.3 percent,” the minister said while speaking in parliament. “With the opening of the tourism market in Greece there has in fact been an increase in cases, however much less compared to countries that have not even opened their borders,” he underlined, adding that Covid-19 testing has increased in Greece. Moreover, the said that the numbers of Greece’s 2020 tourism performance will show a “positive sign” at the end of the year. “Ιt will certainly be well above the ‘zero point’ from which we started from (after the lockdown). Maintaining the balance between health and the opening up of our country is an extremely difficult task, for which the Greek government is fighting hard every day,” Theoharis stressed. “We never said this year would be good, easy or the same as last year. We did not say that we will return to a previous normality, but that we will have to adapt to a new one,” he added. Join the 15,000+ travel executives who read our newsletter Follow GTP Headlines on Google News to keep up to date with all the latest on tourism and travel in Greece. Share 0 FacebookTwitterLinkedinWhatsappEmail GTP editing team This is the team byline for GTP. The copyrights for these articles are owned by GTP. They may not be redistributed without the permission of the owner. previous post Central Macedonia Backs Covid-19-hit Businesses with €150m next post Covid-19: Wales Puts Six Greek Islands on Quarantine List You may also like Greece’s Hotel Market Sees Major Investments Over Four Months 5 February 2025 Greek Tourism Ministry Monitors Santorini Situation as Seismic Activity Continues 5 February 2025 Global Air Passenger Demand Reaches Record High in 2024, IATA Reports 5 February 2025 Greek PM Reassures Public About Santorini’s Ongoing Seismic Activity 5 February 2025 Milos: Ministry Suspends 5-star Hotel Construction Near Sarakiniko Beach 5 February 2025 ELIME and HELMEPA Join Forces for Safer, More Sustainable Greek Ports 5 February 2025 3 comments Daniel Zollinger 8 September 2020 - 08:32 Trotzdem bin ich froh, meinen Urlaub auf Kreta storniert zu haben und hoffe auf 2021. Mir ist das ganze in dem Jahr zu unsicher, wenn man nie weiss ob man bei einem positiven Coronatest hinterher 14 Tage nur im Hotelzimmer verbringen kann! Das ist dann aber auch kein Urlaub mehr auf dieser Basis! Reply Marie Pitsiladi 7 September 2020 - 16:51 We put all protocols into place All for nothing , we should have at least ensured all incoming tourists regardless of Country of origin have a negative covid test 72 hours before arriving . Reply LUIS CARLOS ZOCCOLER 7 September 2020 - 15:07 Greece is seeing as an European Summer Paradise DESTINATION, which I agree with, I believe Greece has done a fabulous job not only opening for tourists during summer but since the start of this disease. Now what is important is what Greece do next. As Fall will start soon, Greece need a plan that will take in consideration in not closing all the business but instead working with them. We all need to make money to eat and live. Reply Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ
