The simplified Greek visa regime fortourists from Russia, Ukraine and other countries to the Aegean coast
of Turkey
ends on the 30th of September. Starting from the 7th of
July tourists can obtain a 15-day Schengen visa upon arrival to five
Greek islands: Rodos, Kos, Khios and Lesbos.
The pilot project was made very welcome
both in Turkey, which acted
as Athens’ tourist
partner, and in non-EU countries. In order to get to the desired Greek island,
tourists had to show their passports, return ferry tickets, hotel reservations
and two photographs 24 hours before the trip. The price for this kind of visa
was €35, the same as for a regular Schengen visa. It was also possible to get
right to the Greek border and obtain the visa right there.
During the fist month of this simplified
visa regime, 2224 visas were issued. According to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the most popular islands were Rhodes and Lesbos.
The majority of tourists came from Turkey,
Russia and Ukraine.
Greek authorities were satisfied with the
results of the pilot project and planned to resume it next year. The Minister
of Tourism of Greece, Mrs. Olga Kefalogianni has promised with the EU’s
approval to complete it with some new measures aimed to simplify the visa
procedure. They have suggested that next year it will also be possible to get
the visa on the islands of Santorini and Mikonos and at the airports of Kos and
Rhodes as well.
Greece
itself has all the reasons to be happy with the results of the 2012 season. For
example, the number of tourists from Turkey has grown by up to 180% this
year. There is no precise data available on the exact number of Russian
tourists that visited the Greek islands during this pilot project operation,
but the number of visas issued in Moscow
during only 7 months of 2012 increased by 43.5% (375886 visas). Besides, the
Greek travel industry is expecting a record number of tourists from Russia this
year. According to Mr. Andreas Andreadis, the President of the Association of
Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) this number
is expected to reach one million people. This forecast that the Head of SETE
gave was made during the two-day Greek-Russian tourism Forum in the North of
Crete, in Hersonissos. Adreadis stated that the number of Russian tourists has
already exceeded the indices of 2011 by 30%. Besides, they not only spend the
longest holidays in Greece
but they also spend the most amount of money, on average it is €1105 per
person, portal visa4u.ru reports.
