ATHENS – Mostly kept home during a lockdown that began March 23 to try to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus, many Greeks frantically want to get out for a vacation of some sort even if social distancing measures remain when it's lifted.

A survey found 47 percent of people queried by the marketing lab at the University of Macedonia said they will go on a holiday, with 65 percent of them picking August as a safe period, said the business newspaper Naftemporiki.

But they won't be heading out of Greece for the most part, with international air travel likely to come back in staggered phases and people reluctant to visit other countries in the aftermath of the disease and fears it will linger.

Some 90 percent said their vacation will be domestic and right in their home country, which could give the tourism sector and hotels a boost when they reopen in phases, said likely to begin sometime in June.   

Of  19 percent of respondents that answered that they will not take a holiday at any time in 2020, some 36 percent said they don't have enough money with the lockdown keeping many out of work, while 32 percent blamed the Coronavirus and 22 percent said they would be too busy with work, the paper's report also said.