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UK unlikely among first 20 countries allowed to send tourists to Greece

Greece will open its doors to overseas holidaymakers from June 15, but the UK is not expected to be on a list of countries allowed back in, at least in the first wave of some 20 countries. The UK’s current record on coronavirus is currently not good enough for Brits to be allowed to visit Greece when the country open its doors to overseas holidaymakers from July, the Greek tourism minister Haris Theoharis told ITV News.

“I think that the UK has a big difference in terms of the current medical status of the country with Greece, so I don’t think it’s likely it will be there,” he said.

Theoharis said Greece will be waiting for figures in the UK to improve before Brits are allowed back in.

The country’s much anticipated tourist season will begin on June 15 with the opening of seasonal hotels and the arrival of foreign tourists from countries with good epidemiological criteria, Theoharis announced on Wednesday. International flights will be able to fly directly to Greece’s main tourist destinations as of July 1.

A list of countries from which visitors will be able to arrive in Greece will be announced by the end of May. Restrictions on countries are expected to be lifted after July 15.

At the announcement of the “Restart Tourism” package on Wednesday, Theoharis listed Balkan and Baltic countries, Germany, Israel, Cyprus and Bulgaria among the countries expected to be in the first wave of those whose citizens will be allowed to enter Greece mid-June.

Skai TV reportedly added China, Japan, Australia. Slovakia and the Czech Republic on Thursday morning.

This sounds odd as Minister Theoharis said yesterday that “medium flight distance” was one of the criteria to allow foreign tourists in the country, next to epidemiological ones.

Greece managed to take early measures against the pandemic, closed schools beginning of March and imposed a lockdown on March 23. This paid out. Death toll stands today at 167 and the total number of infections at 2,850.

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7 comments

  1. Deaths per 100K of population – UK 53, Greece 2, no- brainer. If only it were not so.

  2. Looking at the figures and results in the Netherlands, this country would certainly also be eligible to discuss a bilateral agreement, given that the covod-19 virus has so far been successfully combated. Even better than in Sweden and Germany, for example.

    • Melanie Drummond

      What about UK citizens resident overseas who have not been in the UK for over a year ? We have a property in Greece and want to be able to visit it as soon as possible . We are resident in Bahrain , can we expect to be refused entry because of our passport ?

    • You obviously don’t know what you are talking about … Sweden has one of the worst death rates per CAPITA in the world ??

  3. Douglas Macdonald-Shand

    Virus statistic in Scotland are slightly above those in Greece but substantially lower than England but Greece indicates UK flights unlikely to be allowed into Athens until later in the year.
    Scotland is still a member of EU community so why are Scotish Flights being refused in Athens and classed with Virus statistics in England.?
    Other Countries of EU flights are being allowed into Athens so is this selection against a member state Scotland.? Certainly looks like it is.!!

    • It’s UK in EU, not Scotland on it’s own in EU.

      • Douglas Macdonald-Shand

        Correct at this moment in time.! However devolved Government is the basis of amassing Virus Statistics the point of which I was raising.