Greece Exempts British Tourists from Biometric Border Checks This Summer

British holidaymakers heading to Greece will not face border delays this summer, Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni told the BBC.

Kefalogianni said the Greek government does not want visitors burdened by bureaucratic procedures when entering or leaving the country. She confirmed British visitors will not face biometric checks at the border at any time during the summer season.

The country is working to ensure frontier checks take less than a couple of minutes, she added.

The EU completed rollout of its new entry-exit system, or EES, in April. The digital border procedure requires short-term visitors from outside the EU and European Economic Area to register biometric data each time they enter or leave the Schengen zone. First-time crossings include fingerprints and a facial scan, with one checked on subsequent visits.

While the system works well in some EU areas, others have seen queues up to three hours. More than 100 people missed an EasyJet flight from Milan's Linate airport to Manchester last month after what the airline called unacceptable passport queues. Ryanair passengers from Milan Bergamo to Manchester also missed their flight due to control problems.

Greece claims it has successfully started full EES operation. In practice, it suspended biometric checks on UK visitors in early April after long queues at Corfu airport.

The European Commission confirmed last week that Portugal and Italy do not plan to exempt British nationals from the checks. Unconfirmed reports had suggested the two countries might follow Greece.

Kefalogianni said Greece is not breaching EU rules, which allow brief EES suspensions during congestion but prohibit blanket exemptions for specific nationalities. "What we're doing is not actually an exemption," she said. "It's just that we have made sure that we facilitate the procedure in a way that means visitors are not burdened."

The EU said last week it is in contact with Greece to clarify the situation and recall existing rules.

Kefalogianni also noted reports of jet fuel shortages, which could raise prices or cause cancellations, have made tourists more hesitant. Supplies from the Gulf have slowed since the US-Israel war with Iran began more than two months ago. Europe normally relies heavily on those imports.

"I think that this is a trend that you would see everywhere," she said. "People are being much more reluctant. But at the same time, they realise that Greece is always a country which has upgraded its tourism offering and that it provides a very good balance when it comes to price and the offering. We already have a lot of holidaymakers in Greece right now, and we're looking forward to welcoming even more as the season evolves."