Greece to officially launch its tourism season

Mykonos' newest bar-restaurant, Pelican, seemed to appear from nowhere. Tables, coffee machines, light fittings and music mixers were still being slotted into place by staff wearing matching face masks as Greek visitors trickled in at the start of a holiday long weekend. Owner Vasilis Theodorou says he's in a hurry to get back to business. Greece is too.

The tourism season officially launches on Monday, with hopes pinned on prime resorts like the islands of Mykonos, Rhodes, Corfu, Crete, and Santorini where regular ferry services have already resumed and direct international flights will start July 1. Heavily reliant on the vacation industry, Greece has gambled on a decision to relax COVID-19 health inspections at ports and airports to try and avoid being hit by another crippling recession, having only recently emerged from a years-long financial crisis.

"Business will be 80% down (this year). So we're waiting for the 20% and we're happy because we know that's what it will be," Theodorou said, adding that he expects tourists from central Europe to come first and hopes for Americans at a later stage.

Timely and strictly-enforced lockdown measures have so far kept the infection rate in Greece low and the death toll below 200.

But reopening means islands - many with only basic health facilities and previously sheltered from the outbreak on the Greek mainland - will again be receiving visitors from around the world far in excess of the local population.

Mykonos Mayor Konstantinos Koukas told the AP that islanders felt prepared and had received clear guidelines from the government.

An island that to many epitomises high-life and hedonism, Mykonos is eagerly awaiting the restart.

By early June, its winding whitewashed streets should be packed.

High-paying customers would normally be spilling out of the bars, eying luxury storefronts displaying watches and dresses, and competing with crowds from cruise ships for a restaurant table.

VIP watchers have spotted pop star Katy Perry and football player Cristiano Ronaldo among a large crop of celebrities seen here in recent summers.

This year, beaches are still empty, rented cars are lined up in fenced-off lots, and most stores remain padlocked.

Stray cats and the island's mascot, a large light pink pelican, roam the streets looking for company.

Mosaic maker Irene Syrianou, who was busy cracking pieces of marble into chips with a hammer, kept her workshop open despite the lack of customers.

She hoped Americans, whom she said favoured her, would come.

Greece's gamble follows a decade of tourism growth and increasing reliance on the industry with annual visitor numbers more than doubling since 2010 to 34 million last year and revenue up 80 percent to some EUR 18 billion (20.2 billion US dollars).

During many of those years, the country teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and exit from the euro currency bloc, unable to steady its public finances after the global financial crisis.

Greeks endured years of harsh economic austerity and three international bailouts.