ATHENS — "Hotel restaurants operate legally only to serve their guests and with specific, strict rules and conditions," the Hellenic Hoteliers' Federation noted in an announcement on Wednesday. Responding to a ministry announcement that hotel restaurants must close at Christmas and New Year, it noted that restaurants cannot close as long as hotels are open as the guests staying there must be served.

The federation pointed out that hotels had stringently observed the very strict hygiene protocols and proved themselves to be among the most secure spaces in terms of health, adding that their "reward-punishment" for this effort was to be excluded from support and now "accused because our businesses might have customers – guests – for not shutting down their operation ourselves."

"… in the midst of the lockdown, our hotels remain open – essentially closed, without revenues and excluded from the additional support measures provided for the businesses that were shut," the announcement said, adding that the government must make up its mind whether hotels should only be allowed to provide accommodation.

"Hotels that are now allowed to have guests, however, cannot stay open," the federation stressed.