Greece’s Tourism Minister Harris Theocharis announced this week that the country hopes to reopen its doors to visitors as of May 14. The plan, Theocharis announced, is to welcome anyone who has been vaccinated, who has antibodies or has tested negative for coronavirus.
“We intend to open tourism by May 14 with specific rules and updated protocols,” Theocharis said. “Until then, we will gradually remove restrictions if conditions allow.”
Heavily reliant on tourism, Greece has been at the fore front on the efforts to save 2021’s summer and reopen to visitors. Authorities are trying to protect the already so damaged tourism sector. According to The Guardian, one of the markets that the Greek tourism sector is eager to welcome is UK’s, which is Greece’s second largest source market after Germany. Greece and the UK have been discussing how to create a ‘safe corridor’, similar to the one with a created with Israel last month.
The Portuguese island of Madeira has created a similar form of corridor. Authorities announced in late February that the island would allow the entry of tourists vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19.
Greece was one of the first countries to ask Europe to create vaccination certificates within the EU, something that has already been admitted by several elements of the Commission as a tool to be thought to come into force in time for the summer.
On the other hand, the World Health Organization has warned that it considers this type of certificate to be premature, since there is still no absolute certainty about the immunity and risk of transmission of vaccinated people.
