Zakynthos Informer Zakynthos Informer
Related Articles
With many “unknown’s”, Greek Tourism enters the final stretch towards the opening of the summer season of 2021. This was confirmed yesterday by the arrival in Rhodes of 189 tourists from the Netherlands, in a “experiment” of group travel within Europe.
The “experiment”, as the Greek and international media call it, is not only for Greece. The Netherlands, like most European countries, has reason to want the resumption of tourism activity as a stepping stone to reactivating the economy.
The 189 Dutch will not exactly have an “idyllic” vacation on the beautiful Greek island. They will be strictly confined to a luxury hotel, will be entertained only inside its facilities and will only eat there.
They will not visit any archeological site or other attraction and will not try a single regular souvlaki!
The “experiment” offers, however, an opportunity to highlight and solve certain problems. While it may also work in favour of Greece, if completed without unpleasant surprises.
How tourists will enter Greece
Foreign visitors will come to our country with specific conditions, in order to practically minimize the chances of getting sick en masse or of the number of cases getting out of control.
In practice, there will be three possibilities for a tourist to come to Greece:
– have been vaccinated and bring with them the so-called “green digital certificate”. Which according to competent sources in the Ministry of Tourism, will have been formed at European level around mid-June. That is, the EU countries will have agreed on how and to whom it will be granted and what exactly will be its validity
– bring with them a certificate of antibodies. Which will prove that they have already become ill and recovered. So practically no one will be able to transmit the coronavirus
– to take a molecular test 72 hours before traveling, With a negative result.
At the same time, sampling checks will be carried out systematically at all entrances of the country (airports, ports and border stations). Based on the EVA model that yielded significant results in the summer of 2020, detecting many cases of foreign or Greek travellers.
It remains to be decided where tourist who get sick afterwards, while in our country, will be quarantined. As there is always the possibility of this happening.
However, with the combination of measures described above, the Ministry of Tourism is moderately optimistic about a successful opening in mid-May.
The target date of May 14th
The target date for the opening of Greek tourism has been set, as it is known, on Friday, May 14th. According to competent government officials in Huffpost, this “appointment” will be very difficult to move.
The reasons are specific:
– hotel units, like all large infrastructures, need time to prepare before receiving guests. This can not be done in a few 24 hours
The staff of hotel units, or cruise ships, are not easy to assemble within a minimum of 24 hours. Often, they are long-distance workers and it is necessary to have clear planning and to be notified many days before returning to work.
– the risk of Greece opening up in a hurry and cases occurring is not worth it. It will complicate the country’s position in the international tourism landscape and give advantages to competitors, who will find opportunities for defamation
– in order for tourists to come en masse, there must be air flights, which depend not only on Greece, but also on the international environment. That is, if Americans and Europeans do not open, it is naive to expect increased arrivals in our country.
Source: m.huffingtonpost.gr
