The Greeks have decided that they will not open their doors to tourists from Western Europe and the countries where the pandemic has hit hardest.
Greece, which is one of the favourite holiday destinations for Serbian tourists, could open its tourist facilities between June 15 and July 1. “Serbia is one of the five or six countries which tourists would be allowed into Greece, which is good news,” says Aleksandar Senicic, of the National Association of Tourist Organizations of Serbia (JUTA).
This also coincides with experts’ estimates that travel from Serbia will not be possible until about mid-June.
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“We believe we will be able to save part of the season with people going on a holiday in Montenegro and Egypt, places that have been little affected by the virus and are fairly flexible markets. However, all plans are still on stand-by and not dependent on travel agencies, which means that tour operators cannot guarantee precise dates at this time, even if they would like to re-open tomorrow,” said Senicic.
The Greeks have decided not to open the borders to tourists from Western Europe and countries where the pandemic has hit hardest, while Serbia has received “green light”, along with Romania, Bulgaria, Israel…
“If the borders are opened, there is talk of possible tests carried out at border crossings and more documents required to cross the border, but nobody is mentioning quarantine on departure and return as yet. We hope to be able to save at least one segment of the season,” explains Aleksandar Senicic.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on the health situation and the government’s instructions.
Travel agencies in Serbia have decided to cancel all trips that were supposed to take place until May 15. According to tour operators, travel agencies should meet in the first week of May and talk to the state institutions about further steps. At the moment, it is presumed that travel will not be possible until about mid-June.
“For now, May 15 is the time when there will certainly be no travel. With regard to congress tourism and business travel, this segment will not be activated, although the number of events organized will be drastically reduced for the next period, since a large number of conferences have already been cancelled,” said one of the travel agencies that is engaged in the congress market.
(Srbija Danas, 21.04.2020)
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