No quarantine for tourists with COVID
Posted on Monday 1st August 2022 by
It isn’t a surprise to anyone that the pandemic has influenced everyone and everything. This impact has been felt especially by businesses who specialise in the tourism area due to the lack of travel. The Greek government has recognised this and decided to act in order to support the economy.
Changes to Restrictions Placed on Tourists
There have been major redactions to the previous restrictions placed on tourists who fall ill with COVID during their trip in a bid to support the economy. In a new joint decision published by the ministries of Tourism, Finance and Health on Wednesday, 6th July, tourists will no longer be subject to the mandatory 5 days isolation period that residents will still be governed by.
However, it is still highly recommended that everyone who tests positive for COVID should remain in isolation in their pre-paid accommodation for as many days as they have booked. Not only has there been changes to allow tourists to leave their residency but there have been amendments when it comes to public transport as well. Tourists will no longer need to be negative to use public transport such as trains, boats, taxis etc. Instead, someone testing positive for COVID will only need to wear a high protection mask (FFP2 or KN95) to be allowed on any form of travel.
Greece has been seeing a positive trend in tourism since global travel started to slowly become normalised and it is this influx that the ministries are attempting to maintain with these changes. Giving the people the ability to still enjoy their holiday as well as travel home in a normal fashion will, hopefully, give tourists more confidence to book a trip.
The Health, tourism and finance ministries have also decided to abandon the previously mandatory Vaccination, recovery or negative test certificate requirements for inbound tourists. These sudden changes have come at a strange time as the tourism season has been in swing for locals and foreigners for quite some time already, this could be an effort to maintain the surprisingly strong season the economy has had so far.
There are still protocols in place should a tourist wish to isolate as well as more severe cases which require medical treatment or hospitalisation.
To slow the spread of COVID the previous laws requiring a 5-day mandatory isolation period is still in place for residence of Greece. This decision comes from the point of view that residence do not inject the same kind of money into the economy as holiday makers will so, during the busy seasons, they decided it best if tourists be able to move freely despite having COVID and residence must remain where they test positive to avoid spreading it among other locals and tourists.