‘Young people will be young people, but they must change their behaviour’

Greece will continue to take additional measures to combat the potential spread of Covid on its islands following the outbreak on Zante that was blamed on partying Brits.

Zante, along with six other Greek islands, were added to the UK quarantine list in early September after a rise in cases.

Five were taken off the list the following month, Zante among them.

The rise in Zante cases was thought to be partially caused by young Brits defying Covid warnings.

TUI even dropped the party resort of Laganas amid reports holidaymakers were acting irresponsibly.

Greece Minister of Tourism Harry Theoharis yesterday said it would take the necessary measures to avoid a repeat of the scenes that saw Covid protocols flagrantly disregarded.

But he suggested authorities would not take such draconian action that would drain the life out of the holiday experience.

"I can assure we took a lot of steps about Zante and other similar places," Theoharis said during a briefing at World Travel Market. "We banned bars after midnight in order to ensure people did not have the breeding ground for this type of behaviour.

"We tried to ensure the protocols were doubly implemented in those areas, and we sent units in order to do extra testing to ensure that we had data.

"Unfortunately young people are young people, there is only so much you can do without totally taking away the fun from the experience."

Theoharis said it would consider other measures if they were needed.

"We are hoping that what we did up to now was sufficient for this year, and we are going to reconsider any measures that need to be taken in order to protect citizens’ health," he said.

"It’s more of a risk to themselves and up to a point they have to understand that as well, so they need to change their behaviour.

"But in some respects it’s no different than Brits meeting in a square in London or Manchester or Liverpool."

Meanwhile, the minister praised Britain for its ‘excellent cooperation’ and said the UK was able to introduce its regional approach to travel corridors because of the data provided by Greek authorities.

"We provided them with so much detail and information about what was going on each of the islands so they were able to make informed decisions," he said.

Greece was among the few European countries to keep the spread of Covid relatively contained. Remarkably, Theoharis said tourism revenues grew 13%-14% during the year with arrivals up almost 3%.

More than 750,000 Brits visited the country, he said.

"We had a flat start to the year but it quickly picked up, and as a result we had a bumper year, a positive year," he said.

"This was exceptional by any measure. In the first two months of 2020 we had an increase in revenue of 22-23%, compared to first two months of 2019, so we were poised to have an incredible year."

Turning to 2021, Theoharis said Greece has ‘high expectations’.

"Our hope and belief is that with the contribution of science, in 2021 the whole of humanity will leave behind the painful adventure of the coronavirus pandemic," he said.

He said Greece will be step up its marketing activity and ‘collaborate with airlines and tour operators throughout the year’.

But he warned that a true tourism recovery was reliant on a vaccine.

"Without a vaccine, tourism can’t achieve sustainable and meaningful recovery," he said.