The tourist season in Greece may begin in the coming weeks, as the country's largest tourist agency, Mouzenidis Travel Greece, is launching sales of tours to Greece starting from July 1, the head of the company, Georgios Masmanidis, told Sputnik on Wednesday
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th May, 2020) The tourist season in Greece may begin in the coming weeks, as the country's largest tourist agency, Mouzenidis Travel Greece, is launching sales of tours to Greece starting from July 1, the head of the company, Georgios Masmanidis, told Sputnik on Wednesday.
According to the company head, given that the authorities announced on Tuesday the opening of the country's borders with the Balkan countries, namely Serbia and Bulgaria, starting on June 1, the company expects hotels to resume operations starting on June 10, or June 15.
"We resumed sales [of tours] starting from July 1 and onward," Masmanidis said, adding that the company is preparing for the opening of the tourist season and expects tourists by the end of June.
The head added that tour operators will take further action following Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' address later on Wednesday regarding criteria for opening hotels across the country.
"Hotels will be able to operate at full capacity, given that Greek hotels are not hotels in Turkey or Egypt, they do not have many rooms. Greek guestroom stock stands at between 200 and 300, no more. Proceeding from this, the concentration of people in the territory of Greek hotels will not be so large," Masmanidis added, noting that hotels will not be crowded and can be fully occupied by mid or late September.
In addition, Masmanidis said that all hotels would have to meet certain sanitary standards, and all staff would need to be tested for the coronavirus throughout the summer.
Greece began easing its COVID-19 restrictions earlier in May amid the improving epidemiological situation in the country, allowing travel between islands, the holding of religious services and retail businesses to reopen. As of Wednesday, the country has confirmed a total of 2,840 cases, with the death toll at 165.
