Greek tourism faces tense 'summer of patience'

FILE PHOTO: Tourists play beach tennis at a beach in Corfu, Greece July 19, 2021. REUTERS/Adonis Skordilis

ATHENS (Reuters) -For two balmy weeks in July, hotel manager George Tselios dared to hope his pandemic nightmare was behind him. He was getting 100 bookings a day for his Rhodes seaside resort - "unthinkable numbers" for the past year and nearing normal levels.

Then the island was downgraded to "orange" on Greece's COVID-19 map - one level before curfews and other tough restrictions become mandatory - and bookings sunk to around 50 a day.