THESSALONIKI — "With the few tourists, mainly from Israel, leaving Τhessalonikih in order to return to their country via Athens, hoteliers are very close to making the decision to suspend the operation of hotels," the president of the Thessaloniki Convention Bureau Giannis Aslanis said on Tuesday, in a statement to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA).

"Most of the hotels in Thessaloniki will probably decide to close as the decision for a lockdown until November 17 and the ban on travel inside and outside the prefecture makes their operation impossible," the president of the Thessaloniki Hoteliers Association, Andreas Mandrinos, said.

"The downward trend was already visible from October 20 but even with a "mini-normality" based on Greeks, there could have been a some management of the situation. At the moment, however, we are talking about zero revenue and deteriorating epidemiological data, which will logically lead to a temporary suspension in the operation of most hotels, especially the big five-star hotels in the city," he added.