Greece’s Theoharis Says, “We Want to Be Ready to Welcome Every Tourist”

Last week, Greece’s Minister of Tourism Harry Theoharis told a TV audience every part of his country will have the full capacity to deal with coronavirus cases according to a report from AMNA.

According to the minister, the tourism ministry is cooperating with the health ministry to strengthen the necessary “health structures in order for the country, from the smallest island to Athens to be able to welcome tourists and deal with any incident or dangerous condition.”

Theoharis went on to state that the aim of the government is to be fully ready to welcome visitors and to help alleviate their fears over the coronavirus situation. He also said there is ample financial capability to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished to this end.

Also, Greek officials clarified the point that their country will not limit arriving airline passengers to only the 29 countries, but confirmed that tourists arriving from countries not on the initial list will be subject to mandatory testing for the coronavirus upon arrival and a quarantine period of one or two weeks.

Speaking about the countries from which Greece will welcome tourists this year, Theoharis told the audience about the new list of countries from which someone can visit without any special paperwork. In his own words:

“We are opening our borders but at the same time we are closely monitoring the way the situation is unfolding. The strict health protocols will protect both the staff and the tourists.”

The list was announced late last week, and included countries deemed safe via their epidemiological profiles. Greece has been in the world spotlight during the pandemic over the countries successful response to COVID-19. The country’s rapid action to flatted then curve of viral infections made a country previously bashed for her economic situation, into a kind of pandemic hero nation.

On Saturday, the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs released the guidelines for “Greece welcomes the world“, which included a list of airports from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) where there is a high risk of transmission of the CoViD-19 infection. That list included airports in the UK, Russia, France, the United States, and many other countries that have not, so far, flattened the COVID-19 curve.