Thousands of Turkish tourists, taking advantage of the holiday of Bayram, are arriving on the Greek islands these past few days. Although Bayram falls on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the Erdogan government has decided to declare Monday and Friday holidays too, making the whole week off.
The islands have begun to receive increased numbers of Turkish tourists. The majority of them will visit Samos, Kos, Leros, Rhodes and Symi, while on Chios about 10,000 tourists are expected to arrive. According to official data, 561,198 Turks visited Greece in 2010, compared to 200,348 Turks in 2009.
The only concern expressed by hoteliers and tourist agents is that the visa issue is not resolved yet, so many tourists can not stay overnight in hotels, but come by boat. The only progress made so far is that Turkish citizens who are holders of green passports, mainly civil servants, businessmen, teachers etc., can travel to Greece without a visa .
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