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Published 19:13 IST, May 14th 2021

Greek island of Naxos prepares to receive tourists

Greece is hoping to be a safe destination for travelers this year as it tries to revive its key tourism sector, which was battered by the pandemic in 2020.

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Locals on the Aegean island of Naxos are preparing for the official launch of Greece's tourist season on Friday.

Greece is hoping to be a safe destination for travelers this year as it tries to revive its key tourism sector, which was battered by the pandemic in 2020.

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Last year, the number of inbound visitors to Greece fell by 78.2% to 7.4 million from 34 million in 2019, according to Bank of Greece data. Tourism-related revenue dropped by 76.2%.

Greece is hoping to get back half the 2019 visitor level. It's vowed to finish vaccinating its entire island population over the next six weeks.

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Greece has only recently stabilized its rate of COVID-19 infections and deaths following a surge that started in mid-February. Vaccinations reached record daily levels this week and roughly 1-in-10 country residents have been fully vaccinated.

The death toll in Greece reached 11,266 Thursday, while the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic was 371,693 in a country with a population of 10.7 million.

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19:13 IST, May 14th 2021