By Amit Acco, Partner
Israel and Greece signed a mutual agreement on Monday to recognize the Coronavirus vaccination “green passport”, in efforts to boost mutual tourism. It is expected that this recognition will not come into force till late March 2021.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said he welcomed Israel’s vaccination campaign, which he said allows Greece to offer Israeli tourists the opportunity to spend their holiday in Greece and added:
“I am in favor of a green passport across the European Union…We need to facilitate travellers once they provide easy proof of vaccination and this is what we intend to do with Israel… I expect what we will be doing with Israel to be a trial run for what we can do with other countries”
Under the agreement, those who hold a “green passport” documenting completion of the vaccination are exempt from isolation requirements when traveling back and forth and will also not be subject to COVID-19 testing.
Tourism, which accounts for about a fifth of the Greek economy and employs one in five workers, collapsed last year as the pandemic gutted revenues to 4 billion euros ($4.81 billion) from 18 billion in 2019.
