Greece bans Irish tourists from visiting due to poor coronavirus record

Greece has released a list of 29 countries from where it will accept tourists - and Ireland does not make the list

Greece has quenched any hopes Irish people had of visiting there this summer.

The country is to reopen to visitors when international flights resume on June 15.

However, the Government has blacklisted several nations due to their poor coronavirus record.

Greece has released a list of 29 countries from where it will accept tourists - and Ireland does not make the list.

Sign-up for the Irish Mirror newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter today!

Simply pop your e-mail into the box at the top of this article and get all the latest news and entertainment direct to you

Every day we'll send you a roundup e-mail of all the latest news. Local Irish news, UK and international news, local and national Sport and entertainment news , all in one handy e-mail.

You can unsubscribe from this service at any time. And rest assured that your data will not be shared with any other party.

The countries on the list are Albania, Australia, Austria, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Japan, Israel, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Finland.

Visitors from these countries may be randomly tested at the airports.

The list was compiled after a study of the epidemiological profile of the countries of origin of the tourists and after taking into account announcements from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), as well as the relevant proposal of the Infectious Diseases Committee.

The Government there said the list will be expanded on on July 1 and data will continue to be monitored, giving some hope to Irish people that may want to go there later in the summer.

Although Greece hasn't mentioned anything specifically about Irish tourists, the Greek tourism minister singled out the UK as a nation where holidaymakers won't be allowed to come from.

Minister Haris Theoharis told ITV News: “I think that the UK has a big difference in terms of the current medical status of the country with Greece, so I don’t think it’s likely it will be there."

People are allowed to travel freely between Ireland and Britain, as part of the Common Travel Area agreement.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland currently advises against non-essential travel overseas until further notice.

This includes Great Britain but does not apply to Northern Ireland.