Passenger traffic picks up in Piraeus, island hotels full ahead of long weekend
Passenger traffic from the port of Piraeus to the islands was high on Friday as people started leaving the Greek capital for the long weekend ahead of the Pentecost (Aghiou Pnevmatos) national holiday on Monday.
The weekend traditionally marks the first foray into the popular holiday islands of the Cyclades and the Saronic Gulf before Greeks start taking their longer summer holidays in August.
The general secretary of the Attica & Argosaronikos Hoteliers Association, Evgenios Vasilikos, told state-run news agency ANA-MPA that there was a high occupancy rate in hotels of the Saronic islands.
Specifically for Aegina, the head of the local hoteliers association, Stavros Kalamakis, spoke of an “unprecedented” number of arrivals of Greek tourists on weekends, “unlike anything seen in the past,” adding that hotels are fully booked for the upcoming long weekend.
In ferries, cabin occupancy stood at 85% and at 80% for those travelling with regular seats.
Passengers are required to wear a mask covering their nose and mouth, and also to submit a so-called health statement form on their itinerary in the event that they need to be tracked down by health authorities tracing coronavirus cases.
The form is required by all travellers, Greek and foreign, whether or not they have been fully vaccinated, or taken a PCR, rapid or self-test.
The health form can be found here (in English).
