Travelex’s advice for travellers heading to Greece
13 Jul 2015
You might have seen or heard the recent media reports about the possible implications surrounding Greece potentially leaving the Eurozone.
On Monday the 13th of July Eurozone leaders agreed to offer Greece a third bailout. This averts the risk of Greece leaving the Eurozone. For the time being, capital controls will remain in place for Greek nationals and banks will remain closed. For international tourists this means it could be difficult to make cash withdrawals from ATMs and it’s also possible that credit and debit card payments might be limited.
As always, we still recommend you take a combination of cards and cash, however you should take enough euros to last you for the first week of your stay – and then keep your Euros topped up there afterwards. If you are planning to be on one of the islands for any length of time, you may want to take more Euros than usual as it could take longer for Euros to be supplied to the islands if there are any disruptions.
Recent media reports indicate that travellers have been unable to exchange their native currencies for euros whilst in Greece. To avoid this situation we suggest that travellers exchange their money before departing for Greece.
For our remittances and international payments customers:
Our remittance partner Western Union has had to close its Greek operations in line with these imposed restrictions and will remain closed until the 6th of July, at a minimum. Because of this we are unable to process Western Union remittances to or from Greece in our stores.
In addition these restrictions mean we cannot process payments made electronically into Greek bank accounts using Travelex’s International Payments product.
For our Cash Passport customers:
According to the guidelines imposed by the Greek government foreign-issued cards are not subject to any restrictions. Travelex’s Cash Passports are accepted anywhere MasterCard is and its systems are currently running normally. However, withdrawing cash from ATMs might be challenging due to cash supplies and it is possible that making payments with your card could be restricted, though we’ve received no customer queries to date regarding this.
MasterCard and Travelex continue to monitor the situation closely and will react in the appropriate manner as the situation evolves to ensure that customers and cardholders continue to receive the most efficient and effective service, even if change occurs.
Please also continuously monitor the UK Government’s advice on the https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/greece.