ATHENS – Signs, signs, everywhere there’s early signs in Greece that 2022 will be a return to near-normal tourist traffic after losing 2020 and 2021 to the still-lingering COVID-19 pandemic.

The first 20 days of April showed boom numbers after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in a bid to boost the economy again, lifted most health restrictions that could even see anti-vaxxers getting into restaurants, bars and taverns if they’re not checked.’

“All indications point to the fact that this will be a good year for Greece’s tourism industry,” he said during a visit to the Tourism Ministry where he pointed out that this will be first summer in three years with almost no restrictions.

“We hope that the long summer of 2022 will be especially profitable for businesses and also for tourism industry workers,” he noted, said Kathimerini, the sector employing nearly a million people at its peak.

He underlined that the target is to “have as good a tourism season as is possible, and to see it extending throughout the rest of the year, beyond the summer months,” Greece hoping to lure people year-round.