Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis on Friday welcomed Germany's decision to relax travel restrictions to Greece during the coronavirus pandemic.
In statements to AMNA, Theoharis said that Germany's move confirms the excellent handling of the health crisis in Greece, which is seeing infection numbers and hospitalisations steadily drop.
He said he expected other countries to follow Germany's example, leading to the recovery of the tourism sector in Greece.
There are two main changes in Greece’s health control for incoming tourists.
Specifically, regarding the new measures that come into force, the Ministry of Tourism stated:
- Recognition of rapid tests: From now on, entry into Greece without further restrictive measures will be allowed to travelers from abroad with a negative rapid test (antigen test) result.
- Raising the age limit for checks on children: Following recommendations from the European Union, checks for necessary certificates upon entry will now be performed on children aged 12 and over, instead of six years, as was before.
The specific amendments concern controls for people coming from countries for which tourist travel to and from Greece has been liberalised.
Also, the two changes for the rapid tests and the lower age limit for children simply modify the existing control regime, which is still in force and provides that every incoming tourist is entitled to free entry into Greece if they provide either a:
- vaccination certificate,
- or negative PCR test,
- or disease certificate,
- or a positive diagnosis in the past two to nine months.
It is also noted that travelers to Greece now have the opportunity to display the Digital Certificate COVID-19 of the European Union in digital or printed form.
The countries from which entry is allowed, under the aforementioned conditions, without the requirement for subsequent self-isolation are EU and Schengen Area countries (including Germany), as well as the USA, UK, Israel, Serbia, UAE, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Rwanda, Singapore, the Russian Federation, North Macedonia, Canada, Belarus, Bahrein, Qatar, China, Kuwait, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Saudi Arabia.
READ MORE: Greece: 469 new COVID-19 cases, 20 deaths.
