GREECE will open its doors to holidaymakers by May 14 in a huge boost for Brits desperate for a trip abroad.
Brits are currently banned from taking holidays overseas, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson will reveal the date international travel will restart on April 12.
There are hopes the PM will allow UK tourists to head on holidays abroad from as early as May 17, but it's thought that June 21 is a more likely date.
Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and other top holiday destinations are all desperately trying to lure Brits with great deals this summer.
While the UK has raced ahead in its vaccine rollout, much of Europe faces summer at home as their jab programmes make slow progress.
A senior tourism sector official in Athens told the Sun: “We’re in a race to get them, in fact everyone in Europe is in a race to get them.
"If 3.5 million come as they did in 2019, it will be fantastic for us.”
Greek tourism minister Harry Theoharis made the announcement about the holiday hotspot opening its borders to foreign travellers this afternoon.
Addressing ITB 2021 – the world’s largest tourism trade fair – Theoharis said the country had decided to adopt the slogan: “All you want is Greece.”
“This year and forever ‘all you want is Greece,’” he told delegates attending the conference in Berlin virtually.
“For the smile to return to your lips, with the hope you will take your life back all you want is Greece,” he said.
Greece holiay deals for this summer
- These featured products have been independently chosen by Sun journalists. It contains links which are ads, and if you click a link and buy a product we will earn revenue.
- TUI Greece self-catering May & June 7-night holidays from £203pp
- TUI Hotel San Giorgio, Kefalonia all-inclusive 7-nights in June from £584pp
- TUI Hotel Poseidon Beach Hotel, Zante all-inclusive 7-nights in June from £535pp
- TUI Suneo IaIyssos Bay, Rhodes all-inclusive 7-nights in June from £563pp
- TUI Thassos self-catering 7-nights in June from £393pp
- TUI Skiathos, bed and breakfast 7-nights in June from £432pp
- TUI The Village Resort & Waterpark 7-nights all-inclusive from £499pp
- Thomas Cook holidays to Greece 7-nights in June from £113pp
- Jet2 Holidays Self-catering Corfu, Crete & Rhodes holidays 7-nights in June from £289pp
- Jet2 Holidays all-inclusive Zante, Kos, Rhodes & Crete holidays 7-nights in June from £455pp
- Easyjet Holidays all-inclusive Rhodes, Zante and Crete 7-nights in June from £315pp
- Easyjet Holidays self-catering in Zante and Corfu from £202pp
- British Airways Holidays to Greece 7-nights in June from £241pp
On Monday the Greek media referred to an all-out ‘war’ to lure tourists from the UK, by far the biggest market for Greece after the Germans.
The battle for Brits was sparked by the impressive pace of the vaccine rollout in the UK, now moving at triple the speed of anywhere in the EU.
Theoharis has waged a charm offensive in recent weeks, telling the UK Athens is particularly eager to welcome jabbed Brits as it brings together its own vaccine passport scheme.
Greece and the UK are currently in talks over forging an agreement that would allow travellers with vaccination certificates to enter the country without the need for quarantine or Covid tests.
On Tuesday, Theoharis said visitors would be welcome if they fulfilled one of three criteria: they had been vaccinated, had antibodies or provided a negative test.
Greek tourist resorts and some of the more popular islands have reported a surge in bookings from the UK since Boris Johnson announced his government's roadmap out of the UK's third lockdown last month.
Cyprus, like Greece, has also jumped on the bandwagon, with the ever popular Mediterranean destination announcing that vaccinated Brits will be able to fly into the island for quarantine-free stays from May 1.
The country's deputy tourism minister Savvas Perdios told The Sun. "After the roadmap a lot of people have started booking, we have seen a noticeable uptick.
"It's too early to give figures but I can say over the next few weeks and days we will be in talks with all the tour operators. TUI, Jet 2, Love holidays, Easy Jet, Sunville, Mercury, Olympic will be among them."
Athens has been pushing for vaccine passports to be endorsed by the EU, saying certificates proving the Covid-status of travellers will help accelerate mass tourism.
Referring to inevitable queues at test stations, Mr Theocharis said last month: “And [tourists] wouldn’t have to stand in long lines at airports.
“Certificates are just an alternative to negative testing and [the money issue] is also an incentive even if progressively, as we go into the season, we’ll more likely to adopt the cheap and fast rapid tests …. but as I say it’s still a hassle standing in line getting tested .
“With this system, we’d be instituting two lanes in airports as it were. The vaccination lane and the non-vaccination lane which would facilitate travel quite a bit.”
The EU – in contrast to the UK, which has shown willing to debate the issue – has refused to even contemplate travel certificates before now.
In January, the bloc flatly turned down the idea when it was proposed by Athens.
This week senior EU officials, including Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen, finally conceded ground saying Brussels will address the issue at the next EU leaders’ summit on March 17.
But both she and her deputy, Margaritis Schinas, confirmed that logistically it was likely to take months before they are developed.
“We shouldn’t underestimate the technical or legal difficulties,” said Von der Leyen on Monday, a day before Schinas, a Greek politician, told media in Athens that he thought the passes would be ready “by the summer.”
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