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Greece Is Cutting The Cost Of Flights To The Country To Attract Travellers

Greece Is Cutting The Cost Of Flights To The Country To Attract Travellers

A small gift for people who are needing a little break.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Greece is one of a handful of countries who are opening themselves up to tourists as the risk of the coronavirus lowers.

The idyllic European country has revealed that it will be giving travellers a little bonus if they decide to head to their shores.

It will cut the Value Added Tax (VAT) or Goods and Services Tax (GST) on all modes of transport from 24 per cent to 13 per cent. That means flights into the country, buses, trains and subsequent flights around Greece will be cheaper.

David Spender (Flickr)

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced last month: "The tourism period begins on 15 June, when seasonal hotels can reopen. Let us make this summer the epilogue of the [Covid-19] crisis.

"We will win the economy war just as we won the health battle."

Greece has allowed a bunch of nations, including Australia, to send their citizens from next week after overcoming the worst of the pandemic. Travellers will only be allowed to fly into Thessaloniki or Athens until July 1 and then planes will be allowed to resume flying into all destinations.

Information on Greece's Hellenic Republic's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website states: "Compulsory testing and quarantine will be limited only to travellers, irrespective of nationality, arriving from airports of affected areas with high risk of transmission of the Covid-19 infection, as assessed by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

PA

"All travellers will be subject to random tests upon arrival [from July 1]. Additional restrictions regarding certain countries will be announced at a later date."

Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis added: "We are opening up, but at the same time we are closely monitoring the situation. Strict health protocols will protect both staff and tourists.

"Our aim is to be able to welcome every tourist who has overcome their fear and has the ability to travel to our country."

Countries who will be permitted to send travellers from June 15 include Albania, Austria, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Israel, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, South Korea, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Germany and Finland.

PxHere

Greece introduced a nationwide lockdown early into the pandemic, which contributed to the country only having 182 deaths and a total of 3,042 infections. The majority of the cases have been confined to the mainland, sparing the islands that are popular with Aussie tourists.

It's a great step forward, however Australians will have to wait a little longer than June 15 before they can head overseas.

The Australian government banned people from leaving the country unless they had a valid reason to do so.

Some of the reasons included travelling to seek urgent medical attention that cannot be supplied in Australia, travelling in response to the coronavirus outbreak, for compassionate or humanitarian reasons, going away to conduct critical business or unavoidable personal business.

Featured Image Credit: Pixabay

Topics: News