The Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”will limit free parking at Arrivals and Departures and will charge a fee for …long Welcome and Goodbye hugs, kisses and tears. The managing company AIA said in a statement that the measure aims to bring order in the relevant areas. Bars will be installed …
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Greece suspends Covid-Pass and EU Digital Certificate from May 1
Greece’s Epidemiologists Committee decided on Thursday to recommend the suspension of Covid-Pass and European Digital Covid-Certificate (EUDCC) from May 1, 2022. The suspension affects vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens in the country but also tourists arriving in Greece. Details will be clarified in the forthcoming joint ministerial decision. But roughly seen …
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More than 8.6 million tourists visited Greece in Jan-Aug 2021
The number of tourists who visited Greece in the first eight months of 2021 exceeded 8.6 million, the Bank of Greece reported on Friday. This was an increase of 79.3 percent compared with January-August 2020, the bank said. This is reflected in an increase of 135.7 pct in earnings, which …
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2.3 million foreign tourists arrived in Greece so far; Germans top nationality
Around 2.3 million tourists have visited Greece so far this year, Deputy Tourism Minister Sofia Zaharaki said on Monday. Germany is once again the main source of incoming tourism, accounting for 412,000 arrivals, or 17% of the total. The Polish market is this season’s big surprise, with 202,000 Poles having …
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Greece eases tourists’ arrivals from “Green” countries and children up to 12
Head of Civil Protection and Deputy Minister for Crisis Management Nikos Hardalias announced on Thursday that Greece makes it easier for tourists and children up to 12 years old to enter the country. All adults coming to Greece from “Green” countries will only have to provide a negative Covid-19 rapid …
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Departures of asylum seekers & migrants double arrivals in 2021
Departures of asylum seekers and migrants from Greece were double the total number of arrivals in the first five months of 2021, according to migration and asylum ministry figures on Wednesday. 4,951 persons left either for European countries or were sent to non-EU countries via the deportation and return mechanisms …
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Greece’s Tourism industry predicts arrivals to pick up from late June, early July
Tourist industry officials and organizations predicted that tourist flows to Greece from abroad will start to pick up significantly from late June or early July onward. Speaking to state-run news agency amna, deputy president of the Greek hoteliers union Christina Tetradi spoke of a “”nonexistent” May and very few bookings …
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Migrant departures exceeded arrivals in first quarter of 2021, says Greek Migration Ministry
“A positive balance of departures relative to arrivals continued in the first quarter of 2021,” according to the monthly data released by the Migration and Asylum Μinistry on Friday. Ιn the period spanning January-March 2021, 3,072 migrants and refugees left Greece, while 1,597 arrived via the Aegean islands and Evros. …
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First German tourists land on Crete, stunning Greeks in lockdown
The tourism season is to start officially on May 14, however, the first tourists already arrived in Greece and thus on Crete already on the last weekend of March. Several regular flights from Germany landed in Heraklio and Chania over the weekend. 35 tourists arrived from Brandenburg and another 20 …
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Tourists’ arrivals in Greece amounted just 7.9 million in 2020
The worst year for global tourism saw Greece suffer an even worse decline in arrivals than the global average, the Institute of the Greek Tourism Confederation (INSETE) said on Friday. Against a mean international reduction of 74% from 2019, Greece posted a drop of 76.5%, welcoming only 7.4 million visitors …
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Greece’s tourism revenues down 78% in first nine months of 2020
Tourism revenues in Greece went down by 78% and arrivals recorded a decline of 77.2%, the Bank of Greece said in a report about the performance in the first nine months of 2020. This is practically the performance of the whole year as there is no tourism traffic due to …
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My Big Fat Greek Welcome for the first tourists on July 1
With music, dance, local specialties and water arches, Greeks welcomed the first tourists at the regional airports of the country that opened again for international flights on July 1, marking the much anticipated start of the tourist season. At the airport of Rhodes, a local dance and music group entertained …
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Four new cases, no new deaths; “We have low immunity,” says Tsiodras
Four new confirmed COVID-19 cases but no new deaths, Greece’s health authorities announced on Tuesday evening. The number of total coronavirus infections stands at 2.840. Of the total infections 616 are related to travel abroad and 1,475 (51.9%) are related to confirmed cases in Greece. 22 patients are intubated in …
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Greece extends 14-day quarantine for international arrivals until end of May
Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority extended on Monday the mandatory 14-day quarantine rule for all passengers arriving from abroad until midnight May 31, 2020. The quarantine was first imposed on March 16 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The CAA recalled in a statement that the quarantine is for all citizens arriving …
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832 refugees & migrants arrive on 3 Greek islands in less than 48 hours
Refugees and migrants keep flocking to the islands of the Aegean Sea, with more than 800 people to have arrived in less than the last 48 hours. Several boats landed on the islands of Lesvos, Chios and Samos that already host must more people than they can afford. A total …
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Greece calls on EU to step up and deal with Migration as arrivals increases
Refugees and migrants flows to the islands of the eastern Aegean Sea continues without break and 694 people arrived on the islands of Lesvos, Chios and Samos between early morning Monday and Tuesday afternoon. According to latest data, 26,000 refugees and migrants are currently hosted on the eastern Aegean islands. …
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Migration crisis: 13 boats with 546 migrants arrive on Lesvos within an hour
13 boats with 500 to 600 migrants onboard landed in the outskirts of Skala Sykamineas on the island of Lesvos on Thursday afternoon. All boats arrived at the same location in less than an hour. Last time this happened was in the peak of migration crisis in 2015. It was …
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Tough passport controls at Athens International Airport also for EU citizens to/from non-Schengen
Greek Police will conduct tougher passport controls at Athens International Airport also for EU citizens coming from or departing for non-Schengen countries. Reason for this is the implementation of EU directive 458/2017, which Greece implements with a delay of two years. The EU directive does not refer to domestic flights …
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Number of asylum-seekers in Greece rose to 73,000, says Migration Minister
There are about 15,000 immigrants living in the Greek islands, Migration Minister Dimitris Vitsas said on Monday. He pointed out at the overpopulation of the hot spots on Samos and Moria on Lesvos. And he stressed that the majority of migrants arriving in Greece nowadays are from Afghanistan and countries …
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Greece expects record high 32 million tourists in 2018, says PM Tsipras
Greece’s tourism industry is expected to draw 32 million visitors in 2018, in what will be a record year for the sector, said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday. Speaking at a general meeting of the Greek Tourism Federation (SETE), Tsipras said that data indicates that tourism revenues this year …
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