Britons will be able to fly to Greece this summer after officials reversed a decision to blacklist the UK due to its high rates of coronavirus infection.
‘It will now depend on airport of origin, not country (of origin),’ a government official told AFP.
Last week, while citizens of 29 other countries were approved to travel, the UK was initially blacklisted from flying to Greece owing to its high number of coronavirus cases.
The list published Friday approved tourists from countries including Australia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania and Lebanon.
Greek authorities changed their stance over the weekend, allowing people from high-risk countries to travel but with mandatory quarantine measures on arrival.
Britain has 13 high-risk airports including Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted. But Edinburgh, which before the pandemic had direct flights to Greece, is not on the danger list.
People enjoy a day at Akti Vouliagmenis beach resort on May 23, 2020 in Vouliagmeni, Greece. Greece reacted early to curb the spread of Covid-19 but the pandemic wreaked havoc for international travel, dealing a damaging blow to the country’s tourism sector
Authorities said they will conduct tests on visitors arriving from airports deemed high-risk by the European Union’s aviation safety agency (EASA) when it opens its airports to tourism traffic on June 15.
‘If you originate from an airport on the EASA affected area list, then you will be tested upon arrival,’ the ministry of foreign affairs said in an announcement, adding that movement restrictions will also apply.
‘If the test is negative, then the passenger self-quarantines for 7 days. If the test is positive, the passenger is quarantined under supervision for 14 days.’
The extension and testing rules also apply to France, Spain and Italy.
For France, the quarantine measures will apply to flights from the Ile-de-France region in and around Paris, officials said. For Italy, airports in the northern regions of Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Piemonte and Veneto are considered high-risk.
The same holds for Spanish airports in Castile and Leon, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia and Madrid, all areas hit hard by the coronavirus.
A foreign ministry document said Greece had drawn upon the recommendations of the EASA to determine which EU airports were still a public health danger.
And future flight policy will be based on EASA’s notifications that are renewed on a weekly basis, a second government official said.
From June 15 to 30, flights will only be allowed into Athens and Thessaloniki. Other regional and island airports will open on July 1.
‘If your travel originated from an airport not in the EASA affected area list… then you are only subject to random tests upon arrival,’ the ministry said.
‘If you originate from an airport on the EASA affected area list, then you will be tested upon arrival,’ it added.
Platis Gialos Beach remains nearly empty at the beginning of the delayed tourist season in Mykonos, Greece on Sunday, May 25, 2020. After months of being in lockdown due to the coronavirus, Greece plans to begin inviting visitors from mid-June
‘An overnight stay at a designated hotel is required. If the test is negative then the passenger self-quarantines for seven days. If the test is positive, the passenger is quarantined under supervision for 14 days,’ the ministry said.
‘Compulsory testing and quarantine will be limited only to travellers, irrespective of nationality’, it added.
On Friday, Greece had announced 29 countries as safe points of departure in a long-awaited statement.
The list included over a dozen EU countries but Britain, France, Italy and Spain were not among them owing to the spread of the pandemic there.
Certain flights into Athens international airport were still allowed during the lockdown for state affairs, cargo, emergencies and other purposes, but passengers entering the country had to quarantine.
Since May 4, Greece has progressively opened tourism-related businesses following a lockdown imposed in March to stave off an economic contraction that could reach 13 percent of output this year.
Year-round hotels are to resume operations on June 1, followed by seasonal hotels on June 15.
The Mediterranean nation, which emerged from a decade-long debt crisis in late 2018, relies heavily on tourism – about 20 per cent of its output – for its economic recovery.
A nationwide lockdown imposed in March helped Greece contain the spread of infections to just below 3,000 cases and fewer than 180 deaths, a relatively low number compared with elsewhere in the European Union. But it brought the tourism sector to a virtual standstill.
Greece’s economy is seen contracting by up to 10% this year.