Greece not yet prepared to welcome tourists from the UK and Sweden

Greece will not be accepting direct flights from the UK and Sweden until July 15, it was announced on Monday. The announcement followed a meeting chaired by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, ahead of Greece reopening airports to international flights on Wednesday, July 1.

Regarding which non-European Union travellers will be allowed entry as of July 1, Greece intends to follow the list expected to be released soon by European officials, a statement by the PM’s press office said.

The list will include the countries whose travellers will be allowed in when the EU’s external borders are reopened on July 1, Greek Travel Pages (GTP) has reported.

According to EU officials, the criteria will be based on the epidemiological situation and the response to Covid-19 in the non-EU countries.

During the meeting, which was attended by many government ministers, all the measures taken against Covid-19 were reviewed and discussions focused on the protocols for testing passengers at Greece’s points of entry and the country’s recently announced quarantine hotels.

According to PM Mitsotakis, data involving Greece’s opening to tourists will be constantly evaluated. He also called for the good cooperation between the ministries to continue. “Mistakes and setbacks are inevitable, but with good cooperation and timely action we can deal with them,” he said.

The meeting reiterated that passengers arriving to Greece by air, sea or road, are now required to complete a Passenger Locator Form (PLF) at least 48 hours before entering the country and provide information including their point of departure and the address of their stay while in Greece.