Greek Hoteliers Call for Mandatory Covid-19 Testing
As Greece opens its borders to travelers from dozens of countries, Greek hoteliers are urging the government to implement mandatory Covid-19 testing 72 hours ahead of travel to all incoming tourists stressing that the sector can no longer suffer additional setbacks.
“Compulsory tests everywhere… for all those coming from countries with burdened epidemiological data… We cannot afford other setbacks, revenue in hospitality has collapsed,” said Hellenic Hoteliers Federation (POX) President Grigoris Tasios speaking to SKAI online.
Tasios underlined the importance of quick and well-researched decisions which will enable tourism professionals to operate without added problems.
Referring to summer this year as the “Covid-19 season”, Tasios reiterated the federation’s recommendation that additional testing measures be applied particularly at border check points due to a large incoming flow of tourists via road and expressed his concerns about the accuracy of Covid-19 detection in neighboring countries due to lagging infrastructure and high cost.
POX President Grigoris Tasios
“Businesses cannot operate with setbacks. The average occupancy in mainland Greece was set to reach 40 percent but now has dropped to 25 percent,” said Tasios adding that health protocols “should be applied by all and not only by hotel enterprises which have also shouldered the added costs.
Meanwhile on the islands, Tasios said occupancy had dropped to around 10-15 percent.
It should be reminded that hoteliers are calling for extra safety measures as Greece opens to travelers from the UK (Wednesday) and Sweden (July 22) this month and is considering accepting visitors from the US as well as from other non-EU countries with a mandatory negative PRC test result 72 hours ahead of travel.
ΠΗΓΗ GTP
