ECONOMY

Greece eyes share of tourism to Egypt, Tunisia

The Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises (SETE) said on Monday that some 4.5 million tourists are likely to seek a destination for their summer vacations in 2011 away from Egypt and Tunisia, stressing that a share of that figure could and should come to Greece instead.

It added, however, that due to a lack of sufficient data it would be impossible to estimate what the additional demand for the Greek tourism product will be during the summer season due to the political unrest in the northern African countries.

As far as the financial benefits for Greece are concerned, SETE suggested that the average per head expenditure in Egypt and Tunisia confirms that any additional demand for Greece will further reduce the mean spending in this country, which was already estimated to head southward this year due to the decline in prices.

More than 38 percent of arrivals to Egypt and Tunisia every year are during the period from November to March, so those tourists will likely turn to destinations other than Greece.

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