A proposal for providing a “short-stay” visa to Turkish travelers to Greece was forwarded in the Greek parliament by eighteen governing party MPs, as it would facilitate tourism from the neighboring country, reports GTP. The 72-hour visa to be issued on arrival, would allow Turkish travelers to visit Thrace, Eastern Macedonia and the Aegean islands, thus increasing the number of incoming tourists and boosting local economies, the MPs claim in their proposal, noting further the lure of weekend getaways for the Turkish holidaymakers.   
Turkish citizens currently need a visa to visit Greece, while the application and approval process is costly and time-consuming. A visa facilitation scheme for Turkish travelers was once before proposed, by the regional governor of Eastern Macedonia–Thrace, Georgios Pavlidis, who last year, in October, had requested from the Greek ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Order and Tourism to consider its establishment.