Theocharis: “Greek Tourism knows how to give battles and win”

Significant progress was made in the process of liberalizing travel between Great Britain and Greece during the visit of the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Theocharis, to the United Kingdom. The Minister’s talks in London with senior government officials and prominent representatives of the UK’s largest airlines and tour operators show optimism that Greece has an increased chance of being included in the “green” zone of safest tourist destinations the classification system of the British Government, soon.

In London, the Minister for Tourism had a meeting with the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development, in charge of Asia and International Development in the United Kingdom, Nigel Adams. Summing up the discussion, Mr Theocharis pointed out that “Mr Adams and I have expressed the same political will to improve Greece ‘s ranking in the three – lane system – or ‘traffic light ‘- that Britain applies to its citizens who travel abroad. We agreed that Greece, in the next evaluations of tourist destinations for British tourists, should be in a much better position than it is now, that is, to be listed from ‘orange’ to ‘green’ “.

Collaboration of British – Greek infectious diseases specialists

The Minister of Tourism also stressed that “the government of the United Kingdom is very satisfied with the horizontal vaccination of the inhabitants of all the Greek islands”. “Based on this,” said Mr Theocharis, “the British are ready to examine the epidemiological data by island, with the intention of lifting the relevant restrictions.” The Committee of Infectious Diseases in Greece will work closely with their British colleagues in order to achieve the common goal for the two countries. And our goal is to have all the necessary data, in order to take the scientific decisions that will allow the full liberalization of tourist movements “.

Particularly encouraging were also the messages from the British airlines and tour operators, with top executives of which the Minister of Tourism had successive meetings. As Mr. Haris Theocharis stated, “it is very important that, during our discussions, all tour operators expressed the belief that Greece should be in the ‘green zone’ from the beginning. However, they are optimistic that this will happen in the next review by the UK Government. As for the three largest airlines in Great Britain, the representatives of British Airways, EasyJet and Jet2 take it for granted that, once Greece is placed on the ‘green list’, bookings will be launched, as there is huge interest from British tourists to travel directly to our country”.

British Airways flies to Greece

Especially British Airways, from June 21 to September 5, 2021 has already added to its routes to Greece additional new flights from London Heathrow Airport to Corfu, Chania, Kefalonia, Heraklion, Kos, Kalamata, Preveza, Rhodes, and Thessaloniki. The reason for this is, obviously, the spike in demand which is expected to escalate with the entry of Greece on the “green list”.

In the interviews he gave to British international media, such as the morning news program of the Sky News television station, Mr. Theocharis underlined that “we have a very comprehensive, mature and professional plan to fully protect the health safety of our citizens and, of course, any visitor coming to Greece. This is the recipe for our success so far in dealing with the pandemic. We are the first country to implement the Digital Passenger Tracking Form (PLF) and Artificial Intelligence tools last year in incoming tourism controls at entry gates. For these innovative and effective measures that we took in 2020, the Global Award of Excellence was awarded to Greece. “This year we are using even more control and protection tools.”

Pending the new evaluation

As the Minister of Tourism pointed out, “all the Greek islands should have been included in the ‘green list’ – according to the ‘traffic light’ system.” We are looking forward to the new evaluation, as it has been announced that there will be frequent revisions in the ranking of countries according to the security they achieve, at least every three weeks. I’m absolutely sure that given that we have already reached the culmination of the epidemic, we are on the decline as concerns the third wave, like the rest of Europe. That is why I believe that there will be no problem with Greece in the next revision of the “traffic light” system.”

In London, the Minister of Tourism gave a press conference to the correspondents of Greek Media. Analyzing issues related to the opening of the tourism industry for 2021, Mr. Theocharis underlined that “during my visit to the United Kingdom, we initially had very good cooperation with the British Government. I would say that, from all the contacts I have had here in London, a clear message of optimism is being sent to Greece, albeit restrained, for the time being. But I believe that with the next revision of the list of safe destinations, Greece will be better placed for British tourists. In any case, of course, even the ‘green’ category has quite strict health standards. I think that all the actors I met in London, from Deputy Minister Nigel Adams to representatives of airlines and tour operators, are now convinced that Greece is guaranteed to be safe and that everyone can trust it. Because, as evidenced by the great international interest in our country, Greek Tourism knows how to fight battles – and win.”