ATHENS: Greece hopes to reopen its doors to visitors on 14 May, the country’s tourism minister has said as he announced a much-awaited date for the tourist season to officially begin.

 Greek Vice-Minister of Tourism Sofia Zacharaki announced on Monday that holidaymakers from European Union nations will be able to travel to Athens without having to quarantine from May 14 onwards.

"Holidaymakers will either have to be vaccinated or show a (negative) PCR coronavirus test," she told the Greek news channel Skai. Afterwards, they will be free to take their holidays in Greece, Zacharaki added.

This regulation will also apply to some non- European Union  states, among them Serbia and the UK, the Deputy Minister added.

One in five Greeks works in tourism, the country’s biggest foreign earner. With arrivals drastically reduced because of the pandemic last year, the Greek government has said it is aiming this year to attract at least 50 percent of the 31.3 million people who visited prior to the virus.

Since the beginning of the year, the Greek government has been pushing for the development of an EU-wide vaccination passport. This is to save the Greek tourism sector, which normally accounts for almost a fifth of Greece's economic output.

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