Greece’s Santorini to encase lounge chairs in plexiglass, as added safety measure for tourists

Greece’s premier vacation island, Santorini, may acquire a new look soon. While preparing to open up for a post COVID-19 summer tourism season with increased hygiene standards, resorts and bars in Santorini may have a new guest in the form of plexiglass screens.

A Santorini bar owner has already taken an independent step when he surrounded the bar’s beachside lounge chairs with plexiglass screens for increased protection, Reuters reported.

Demilmar, the famous bar located at Santorini’s famous black sand beach of Perissa, came up with the idea to encase lounge chairs in plexiglass. The bar management said it didn’t want to wait for any government intervention and instead decided to plan ahead.

While Santorini residents understand the need for the precautions like the voluntary plexiglass lounge chair dome, bar owners hope they don’t become fixtures on the island.

The Greece’s tourism minister, Harry Theoharis, said that summer travel to the country will take place with “specific new rules,” including new measures.

Greece plans to ease lockdown measures on May 23, after having closed schools and non-essential business on March 10. It could be one of the first countries in Europe to welcome tourists back after COVID-19, due to the government adopting strict measures early on.

In 2019, Greece attracted 33 million arrivals, more than three times its population. This generated revenues of $19.7 billion, reviving an economy thrown into depression by a near-decade long public debt crisis.

According to a new WTTC report, tourism is going to be key to Greece’s post COVID-19 economic recovery, as tourism plays such a strong role in the national economy. The Greek government has proposed a plan which could see Greece, Cyrus and Israel as a corona safe zone.