Greece Tourism Minister: US Visitors Permitted to Enter Until Tourist Season End

Travellers from the United States can continue to visit Greece until the end of the tourist season without being subject to COVID-19 related restrictions, despite the US recently suffering a surge in the number of infections caused by the virus.

“Greece will continue to receive visitors from the US until the end of the tourist season,” Greece Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias pointed out in a statement, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Kikilias has stressed that the US is a significant market “which creates added value in the country’s economy.”

“Visitors and tourism professionals in the United States of America, and, of course, Greeks abroad, have shown and continue to show their love for Greece and their trust in the Greek tourism product,” Kikilias emphasized.

Greek Tourism Minister comments came after the Council of the European Union, last week, removed the US from the list of countries considered epidemiologically safe, urging the 27 Member States to tighten their travel restrictions for arrivals from the US and ban non-essential travel.

However, Greece got positioned in the list of countries that found the Council of the EU’s recommendation non-binding; therefore, it decided not to implement it.

A recent NOTAM of the Greek Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also showed that Greece would not follow the Council of the EU advice to tighten restrictions for US citizens, despite the latter being profoundly affected by the Delta variant of the virus, and recently the new variant Mu that has been identified in 49 US countries.

When estimating the COVID-19 situation in other countries, CAA did not exclude the US from the list of countries citizens of which are allowed to visit Greece for tourism purposes.

Besides Greece, other European countries such as Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, and Croatia also refused the recommendations of the Council, permitting travellers from the US to enter these territories. However, Americans must meet specific entry requirements when planning to head to the countries mentioned above.

On the other hand, America continues to keep in place its ban imposed on travel from Europe, since March 2020, as an effort to stop the spread of the virus.

The ban imposed on Americans would cause further damages to the country’s tourism sector, which the COVID-19 situation has already ruined.

According to the Greek City Times, American tourists’ per capita expenditure surpasses 1,000 euros per trip, which means that US tourists are among the top international travellers who spend the most in Greece, proving that US travellers make a significant contribution to Greece’s tourism sector.

However, as in all countries worldwide, Greece’s tourism sector continues to be affected by the Coronavirus.

Previously, the European statistic provider, EUROSTAT, showed in its report that Greece marked a 60 per cent decrease for nights EU travellers accommodation in establishments.

However, Greece continuously attempted to revive its tourism sector devastated by the Coronavirus. Previously, the World Travel and Tourism Council said that the Hellenic Republic set an example for other territories in terms of its actions taken in order to revitalize its economy through the travel industry.