Monday October 19th is a monumental day in at least one way. Scanning the newswires and press services, the airline and cruise media pages, and official government release pages of Europe, there’s just not much new worth reporting. Here’s a look at this strangest of no-news days.
Greece’s Ministry of Tourism is still regurgitating the same old back patting about handling the COVID crisis better than anyone, only this time the tourism minister is calling the vacation season redux a success. Here’s the gist of that stunning news from GTP:
“The Greek Tourism Ministry is currently working with marketing experts Repositioning Greece to formulate a comeback strategy in the aftermath of Covid-19, said Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis.”
In other important travel news, Greece is now the number eight (#8) honeymoon destination, not in the world, but on the Pinterest image-centric social platform. And if this is not the stunning tourism news you dreamed of, Germany now says Greece is the “only” safe place to travel.
According to news from Protothema, The German Foreign Ministry issued a Covid-19 travel warning citizens advising to avoid visiting European countries, with Greece being the only exception. I am sure this coincides with the billions the German people had to fork over to TUI, in order to keep the giant tour company afloat. The Greek Tourism Ministry has already announced a plan with TUI to get Germans to Greece in November and beyond, no matter what. Sorry, it has to be said.
In keeping with this TUI news, the German company has added thousands of deals to Greece in order to make good on what many experts say is an ill-advised plan to force tourists into Greece at a time when the coronavirus is surging here. Heads up Crete here comes more big spenders (Doh!).
Finally, Greece has confirmed 438 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, of which 32 are linked to known clusters and 28 were identified at entry points to the country.
And there you have it. All the travel and tourism news that is almost worth reporting from Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean.