“Endlich” (finally), exclaims a German tourist with a sigh of relief. Dozens of smiling travelers landed Wednesday on the Greek island of Corfu, “happy to be here” and to be able to enjoy the turquoise waters of the Ionian Sea, in “one of the safest countries” in Europe facing to the coronavirus pandemic.
More than a hundred international flights were scheduled Wednesday the first day of reopening to foreign tourists from regional airports in Greece, including a fortnight in Corfu but also in Santorini, Mykonos, Crete or Rhodes.
“We have been waiting for this moment for so long,” enthuses Molnar Istvan, a Hungarian tourist when he arrives at Corfu airport on the first flight of the day.
“It’s fantastic, we are very happy to be here and enjoy the sun,” he said in the bustling terminal, in front of many tour operators who came to welcome travelers.
“We open our arms wide,” proclaimed Haris Theocharis, the Greek Minister of Tourism, who came to Corfu for the landing of the first plane from Budapest. “We welcome our guests from France and other countries, knowing full well that we can offer them both the hospitality that everyone expects from Greece and a safe environment for everyone,” he said. AFP.
Greece was relatively spared from the coronavirus with 192 deaths and less than 3,500 cases. After three months of confinement, it reopens all its airports on Wednesday to tourists from 14 countries considered safe, including Australia, Canada, Japan and Uruguay, as well as its maritime connections with neighboring Italy.
Greece is “one of the safest countries”, observes, delighted, Mads Melsen who arrives from Denmark via Budapest. With his daughter Silja, this Danish tourist underwent a coronavirus screening test at the airport. “It is not very pleasant but it was very fast,” he said, before rushing to his rental car.
As of Wednesday, travelers coming to Greece must complete an online questionnaire 48 hours in advance and receive a barcode that determines whether they should be screened upon arrival.
“The Greeks are relaxed”
“We were told that there was no victim of the Covid-19 on the island, we feel safe in Corfu”, adds the Slovak Anton Fric, behind his mask. The eight members of his family passed “quickly” without being tested.
On the long, hot sandy beach of Glyfada, at a temperature of 35 ° C, Mihail Diaciov, a tourist from Romania, recognizes that “Greece is safe but there is also the Greek attitude”.
Compared to Romania, the Greeks “are more relaxed”, smiles this dentist, arrived, him, with twenty friends and relatives in six cars and a motorbike. “Greece is great, we eat well, the weather is good, the sea is beautiful”.
Greece, “it is more than the sea and the sun, it is a state of mind”, proclaims the Greek government in its campaign to relaunch tourism, which represents a quarter of the Greek Gross Domestic Product.
“A difficult tourist season”
However, it will be “a very difficult tourist season, we will do our best”, said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis this week.
The British, Corfu’s first clientele, are not allowed to come before fifteen days. So are the Americans, the Russians, the Turks and the Swedes. And travelers from China, where the pandemic emerged in late 2019, will be able to come to Greece if Beijing opens its doors to Europeans.
In the middle of the ocher and pink façades with Venetian architecture crushed by the sun, Yannis has kept his souvenir shop and its sixteen rooms open. Because he still has “1% hope” to see tourists surge and “make up for lost time”.
For Amelia Vlachou, who runs a jewelry store in a shady lane in Corfu, “the three months (of confinement) are indeed lost, we will never recover them”. “Now we’re trying to save the season,” she says.
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