Are United Kingdom Residents Allowed to Visit Greece?
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has begun to slowly lift the warning designed for non-essential travels to 67 destinations including that of Greece. This simply means that British travellers can once again visit Greece without the worry of their travel insurance being invalidated. On July 15, British travellers were once again welcomed into the country. It was originally expected that travel would be reinstated on July 1; however the Prime Minister stated that it would begin again on the 15th.
The lift of the travel ban came from a wide variety of expert opinion and cooperation between the governments to allow direct flights back into the country from airports throughout the United Kingdom. Not only had flights from the United Kingdom been banned but also from Sweden. There is now a multitude of flights from airports in the United Kingdom on direct routes to Greece, with last minute hotel bookings increasing.
What Measures Have Been Put in Place for Visitors?
Travellers are now required to complete the Passenger Locator Form or PLF at least 48 hours before they plan to enter the country. The PLF asks travellers a series of questions regarding the details of their transportation such as seat number and flight number, how they travelled into the country via plane or train as well as how long they have stayed in other countries and where they will be staying while in Greece. Once the traveller has completed the online form they will receive an email confirmation that the form has been completed online and then a QR code in a different email will be sent.
Once you receive the QR code, it will need to be printed or able to be displayed via your smart phone. This code will need to be shown to Greek authorities upon arrival in the country. Expect to show it to airline personnel before boarding a flight as well.
Once you have arrived in Greece, plan to visit a screening area to be tested for the virus by trained health officials. Individuals will then be directed to self isolate at the address they provided on their PLF form until results from the test are available.
Must I Quarantine after Visiting Greece?
It was recently announced that individuals who live in Scotland are able to travel to 39 countries starting July 10th without the need to quarantine for 14 days once returning. It was recently stated that countries which had been rated green by the United Kingdom government would be listed as part of Scotland’s air bridges.
Other countries that did not require a quarantine once returned home included the likes of Belgium, France and Greece. It is important to understand that these are changing times and this list of countries could change at any moment.
Will Greece Go into Lockdown Again?
A lockdown may be required in Greece if there is particular growth of the virus once visitors from other countries are allowed back in as tourists.
On July 10 there was a new peak in cases for the very first time since April 21, with a confirmed 60 new infections. The tourism industry was reinstated on July 1, and since that time there has been over 100 confirmed positive cases in 10 days from visitors from other countries. However, the country expected there to be imported incidents when they planned on gradually reopening the gates to the country.
