The news of Greece's intention to open flights to Russia from September 7, even in a limited format, is catching the interest of tourists in the destination.

From September 7, Russian citizens who have valid Schengen visas will be able to enter Greece through checkpoints of the airports of Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion.

Currently, the tour operators makes adjustments of the flight program to Greece in accordance with the statements of the official authorities of the country.

In July-August, Russian tourists started buying air tickets for the New Year holidays after a long break. Primarily, hey show interest for the still closed European countries.

The Greece Visa Application Center in Moscow has announced the opening date. The visa center opens for all applicants - tourists and tour operators.

The first foreign tourists in Greece were expected from June 15, the prospects for flights from Russia are still not clear.

The date of the resumption of work of visa centers in Europe is still largely unclear.

The Russian Foreign Ministry published a review of the plans of various states to cancel the restrictions imposed due to the situation with the pandemic.

More and more countries are determined with the launch schedule of foreign tourism. Temporary dates for restarting international flights with Russia appeared for flights to Turkey, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus.

Tez Tour has opened the sale of tours on the company's website for the next year in such destinations as Turkey, Greece, Spain and Cyprus. In the near future, the tour operator plans to open sales of tours to Bulgaria and Italy.

Greece officially announced the start date of the season and the entry conditions of foreign tourists.

In order to quickly restore tourist flow from Russia, European countries thought about easing the visa regime. The most active in this matter are the European countries, which GDP largely depends on the tourism sector.

Russian tour operators try to help doctors: the first action of the travel industry in their support is launched today.

The government of Greece gradually, during May-June, plans to return the functioning of the economy and public life to normal.

The Greek government has developed a quarantine exit plan, according to which the relaxation of restrictions will begin in mid-May.

Thanks to the taken measures, the Greek government curbs the COVID-19 epidemic and successfully controls the spread of infection. All this allows tourism professionals to make first forecasts about the beginning of the tourist season in this country.

All consulates of the Schengen countries have temporarily stopped or limited the acceptance of visa applications. Germany and Greece were the last to close this list.

The Association of Tourism Enterprises of Greece (SETE) announced the closure of Greek hotels and resorts until April 30. However, according to tour operators, this measure will not hit the country's tourism.

Tui Russia will launch its own flight program to Corfu. From the end of May, 4 frequencies per week will be opened from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Corfu.

Tour operators and representatives of travel agencies note a significant increase in sales of tours to Greece at the stage of early booking.

Tour operators named the most popular Greek resorts at the stage of early booking and talked about discounts for accommodation until the end of the promotional period.

Tour operators began to arrange flight programs from Kazan for the new season. Among the most noticeable changes compared 2019 are increasing of flights to the capital of Crete.

Since April 29, 2020, Nordwind Airlines starts charter flights from Kaluga airport to Antalya (Turkey) and from May 23, 2020 to Heraklion (Greece) and Monastir (Tunisia).

The official statistics of Greece, taking into account all the arrivals of tourists, shows that by the end of the year the drop in tourist flow from Russia will not exceed 5%. The largest negative trend was shown by the most popular tourist destination - Crete, where the decline was 12,4%.

I love talking to travelers. This October, on the way from Athens to Moscow my flight mate was a man of about my age. During four-hour flight I found out that Maxim and his friends rented a small yacht in Kos harbour. The team travelled about three weeks from one Greek island to another, enjoying the sea, warm welcome of locals, and excellent food. Maxim described me his journey in all the details, although the most challenging part of the story was not about traveling in Greece, but about getting there.