Despite the crisis in tourism and travel, Greece is currently drawing a special category of traveler: owners of mega-yachts, that is, yachts over 50 meters in length (164 ft).

The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and other countries’ decisions that residents returning from holidays in certain destinations must quarantine – or even the prospect of such a measure – are leading Greek tourism to an early shutdown.

The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which has likely not reached its peak, and the travel regulations imposed by certain countries, such as Finland and the United States, which make quarantine mandatory for their residents returning from trips abroad, have put paid to hopes that peak season could be shifted to September and October.

The government is racing to come up with a plan that will bring in – sooner rather than later – the €32 billion in funds that have been allocated to Greece from the European Recovery Fund.

Piraeus Port is weathering the coronavirus pandemic quite well, for the time being. Data from the first seven months of the year show only a marginal negative drop in its main activity, container handling.

The Greek cruise ship owners’ association (EKFN) is essentially asking for a ban on cruises this season, invoking the dangers of the pandemic.

This summer for Greek tourism is proving tougher than initially estimated as the 15 billion euros that will be missing from this year’s travel receipts from abroad correspond to a percentage that is close to 7.5% of GDP.

The coronavirus storm has generated a wave of changes in the coastal shipping industry, with the halving of passenger traffic as well as the possible shift of share packages or the entry of new players into the market, according to XRTC Business Consultants, which has covered the sector’s companies for two decades.

Despite talk of Greece’s overdependence on tourism, the sector will seek its share from the Next Generation EU recovery fund and the 32 billion euros Greece stands to receive in grants and loans.

Better than expected tourist traffic in August and hopes for at least as good a month in September are leading large hotel groups to open some of the properties they had kept shuttered until now.

Hotel prices in the Attica region, which includes the capital Athens, continue to face downward pressure as not only have visitors failed to show up but many prospective travelers have declared that they are ready to cancel their trips abroad if they have to wear masks or submit to a coronavirus test – never mind having to face quarantine.

As far as Greece’s tourism industry goes, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Italy are the country’s best clients. Visitors from these countries accounted for almost exactly half (49.8%) of tourist revenue in 2019

Greece is opening up to cruise tourism as of this Saturday, Tourism Minister Haris Theocharis indicated, confirming the reopening of six cruise ports, even though the international cruise industry has ground to a halt.

The rather surprising and definitely unseemly post by 49-year-old banker Nat Rothschild on Twitter in mid-July against Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in which he called him “foolish,” has turned attention to the intense reactions over the investment by NCH Capital at Erimitis, in the area of Kassiopi on the Ionian island of Corfu. This is an investment that is finally being implemented after eights long years since the privatization project started.

Hotel rooms are showing an average rate reduction of 25% this summer, according to the initial findings of a sample survey conducted by Kathimerini.

Sales agreements for the first couple of luxury villas at the Astir Palace Resort in the seaside Athens suburb of Vouliagmeni were signed last week, Kathimerini understands.

Greek hotels are gradually reopening on a wing and a prayer, hoping for the best while being prepared for the worst.

Greece began receiving British visitors on Wednesday after lifting a ban on arrivals from that country.

The expansion of the passenger terminal in Piraeus, a project budgeted at over 100 million euros and included in the concession contract of Piraeus Port Authority to Cosco as a mandatory investment, is progressing in spite of reactions by entities that have resorted to the Council of State.

Revenue losses from the spring lockdown sustained by hotels in Attica and Thessaloniki are estimated at 350 million euros for the first half of the year, when almost all hotels shut down simultaneously for the first time and stayed closed for several weeks.