Between tourist influx and epidemic rebound, Greece facing a difficult equation

The queues are long in front of the museums, the boats to the Greek islands are crowded.

And the number of visitors in July in Crete, which serves as a tourist barometer, "has almost doubled compared to last year", rejoices Michalis Vlatakis, president of the union of Cretan tourist operators.

The driving force behind the Greek economy, the tourism industry was hit hard last year.

But this year, the official opening of the tourist season in mid-May, one month ahead of 2020, gave the sector a boost.

Greece seems to have regained its traditional tourist affluence: in August, the Germans were at the top of reservations, followed by the British, Italians and French, according to forecasts by the Institute of the Union of Tourist Enterprises (Insete).

Read alsoCovid-19 in Greece: health situation, entry conditions, restrictions ... Update for your vacation

However, this optimism is tempered by the multiplication of cases of Covid-19, in particular infections with the Delta variant, which "will predominate in Greece, as in the whole world", have warned the health authorities.

“The positive momentum could at any time be followed by insecurity, warns Yannis Retsos, president of the Union of tourism operators.

For the first time in years, we cannot predict tourism revenues.

Only one thing is certain: the pandemic requires safe travel conditions ”.

Crete, Mykonos and Athens in red on the epidemiological map

Is this really the case?

Crete is shown in red on the epidemiological map of Greece.

Like other tourist destinations, such as Athens and the iconic Mykonos, in the Aegean Sea.

After two busy months, Crete experienced a sharp increase in coronavirus contaminations in July.

The daily number of cases has risen from a few hundred in June to more than 1,500 in recent weeks.

By mid-July in Mykonos, the number of infections had quadrupled in one week, exceeding 300. At the same time, the most festive of the Cycladic islands was almost full, with 90% of the attendance in 2019.

For now, the Greek authorities have tightened controls at ports and airports, imposed the mask in closed spaces and recommended it outdoors in the event of heavy traffic.