Half of Greeks wary about opening borders to tourists without conditions

Tourism may be the “heavy instruct” of the country and severely hit by the pandemic, however, half of Greeks are wary about the possibility that Greece opens its borders to all foreign tourists without some criteria and certain conditions.

According to a public opinion survey conducted by the Marlab Marketing Laboratory at the University of Macedonia, 49.4% of respondents disagree with the opening of borders to all tourists.

31.9% of respondents prefer, first of all, to accept tourists from countries with low rates of confirmed Covid-19 cases.

The overwhelming majority, 93.7%, favors strict controls at the country’s airports and borders.

Tourists should enter the country with a special certificate for Covid-19, say 74.2%.

This is the third part of the nationwide survey conducted by the research team of the MARLAB Marketing Laboratory and it was conducted between April 23-28, 2020 in a sample of 1,073 people.

According to the research team, this study examines -among other things- how Greece, after the international promotion it received due to the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, could take advantage of its positive image and maintain some of the tourist inflows. but without endangering an extensive spread of the virus in the country.

The question that raises is what are the appropriate policies so that Greece does not lose all foreign tourists and at the same time to promote domestic tourism, encouraging more Greeks to take vacations.

Regarding the internal management of issues related to tourism, the vast majority of Greeks (96.6%) believe that hotels should now follow strict hygiene rules, while 74.8% believe that the use of a mask should be imposed. on all public transport means (aircraft, ships, trains and buses).

In terms of incoming tourism, only 14.5% of respondents agree to some extent that Greece should open its borders to all foreign tourists in the summer.

In contrast, the majority of respondents (49.4%) strongly or largely disagree with this perspective, with 36.2% saying that they were unsure.

However, respondents are more receptive to the arrival of tourists from countries with few confirmed Covid-19 cases  31.9% agree with this policy, 30.7% disagree to some extent and 37.4% % declares to be “undecided.”

The survey participants agree, overwhelmingly at 93.7%, that strict controls are in place at airports and borders to control Covid-19.

Respectively, it is interesting that the vast majority of respondents (74.2%) agree with the view that foreign tourists should enter Greece with a special certificate related to Covid-19.

Another survey shows that a third of participants believe that due to reduced tourism in the country, the quality of services will be better than last year (29.3%) while the majority of them (53.9%) are unsure.

Finally, participants in the survey were asked whether they agree with the suspension of summer vacations for  employees. 49% of respondents disagree with the view that businesses need to suspend workers’ summer leave for the economy to reopen. Only 18.5% support this view.

The survey appears at a time the government is still working on a plan how to open the country to tourists and is considering bilateral agreements with other countries to facilitate international flights.