Greece’s Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis presented the domestic tourism voucher program for qualifying Greeks.

The presentation took place in Santorini, a day after Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis presented the Greek Summer 2020 program inviting international travellers to Greece now after the opening of borders on 15 June.

Mr Theoharis said the 30-million-euro ‘Tourism for All’ voucher program concerns around 250,000 low income Greek nationals who can enjoy a week’s subsidised holiday at various inland destinations.

The goal of the program is to stimulate tourism for the benefit of businesses in the industry by offering subsidised accommodation for a large number of guests. He said this would boost “the liquidity of tourism companies with additional multiplier benefits for local economies”. One million stays are expected to be booked via this program.

The ‘Tourism For All’ program will run from 15 July to 31 December and can be applied for via TaxisNet, the government’s online tax registry.

Mr Theoharis then presented the ‘Plastic-free Santorini’ campaign, which aims to do away with plastic and implement eco-friendly practices, with the support of the Tourism Ministry, the Thira Municipality, Lidl Hellas and the A.C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation.

READ MORE: Organised beaches in Greece may open on 1 June, but there are plans for plexiglass around Santorini’s sunbeds

The campaign, which enjoys 700,000 euros from Lidl Hellas, will run promos at key tourist points on the island and at Athens International Airport, whereas in its second phase – alongside Laskaridis Foundation – will promote educational programs on the island of  Santorini as well as direct interventions at beaches via a systematic and extensive action for the protection of coasts throughout Greece, as per the campaign’s broader scope.

The next initiative of the Tourism Ministry is Visit Greece, the Greek National Tourism Organisation’s (GNTO) official application for portable electronic devices, with exclusive sponsorship by Eurobank and Mastercard, said Theoharis.

Key elements of the application are: the ability to create a personalised profile which in turn relays personalised push notifications to the user, the automatic detection of the user’s geographical location via satellite (the all-too familiar geo-location feature), proposals for points of hospitality, catering, attractions and local businesses.

Visit Greece is linked to the Mastercard Priceless Cities program that offers travellers exclusive services and functional benefits to tourists and partner businesses, said the minister.

Referring to the recent coronavirus pandemic and the reopening of tourism, Mr Theoharis said that “nothing has been left to chance as the government’s absolute priority is health safety, because protecting the health and lives of tourists and workers is in our hands.”

READ MORE: Mitsotakis urges tourists to visit Greece as of tomorrow

Closing his presentation, Mr Theoharis said “we are restarting the Greek summer and Greek tourism.”