ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Visitors to Greece have long been looking for souvenirs in Athens’ oldest district.
The winding streets of Plaka, laid out long before the city imported a network system, are lined with closed shops behind the aluminum shutters. The coronavirus pandemic has driven tourists away from the city’s historic center, which forms a semicircle around the Acropolis, and the area remained unusually devoid of pedestrians and motorists before Christmas.
In their absence, ancient monuments are a little easier to distinguish from a distance, fewer horns sound in traffic, and homeless cats parked in front of cafes are a little less distant.
So far, Greece has imposed two national closures since the beginning of the pandemic. The first, in the spring, kept the country’s infection rates low. Authorities ordered the second in response to a rapid post-summer increase in reported cases and, on Christmas Eve, 4,4,57 virus-related deaths were confirmed.
The restrictions have closed bars, restaurants, cafes and many other companies considered non-essential, but which make up a large part of Greece’s economy that depends on tourism.
The number of visitors traveling to the country fell by 76.1% during the first ten months of 2020 compared to a year earlier. Spending plummeted 77%, according to central bank data released this week.
Greece is expected to contract by 10.5% of its gross domestic product this year compared to the EU average of 7.4%, while its debt-to-GDP ratio will rise to a staggering 208.9%.
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