Greece Set to Welcome Tourists by July, Encouraged by Low COVID-19 Counts

09/05/2020

By Tom Ozimek

Greece is seeking to pitch itself as a safe vacation destination by the second half of summer amid broader hopes that some of Europe’s tight travel restrictions might be easing and so throwing the bloc’s struggling tourism industry a welcome lifeline.

As the number of CCP virus infections rose, the European Union shut its external boundaries to nonessential travel in March, as country after country imposed various lockdown measures to prevent the spread.

Greece has seen 2,663 cases of COVID-19 and 147 deaths from the virus so far, Johns Hopkins data shows.

The country has already reopened some businesses this week, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told CNN he hopes to reactivate the tourism industry by July.

“The tourism experience this summer may be slightly different from what you’ve had in previous years,” Mitsotakis said.

“Maybe no bars may be open, or no tight crowds, but you can still get a fantastic experience in Greece—provided that the global epidemic is on a downward path.”