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                <p>ATHENS (AFP) – After two lean seasons and a year marred by austerity protests, Greek tourism operators expect a rebound in 2011 with the global economy in recovery and unrest in North Africa turning demand elsewhere.</p>
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And although visitors avoiding Egypt and Tunisia may not necessarily flock to Greece -- which has troubles of its own from an unpopular economic overhaul -- the extra demand is enough for the entire region, industry representatives said.</p>
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"As an all-year destination, Spain is most likely to gain Egypt's market, followed by Turkey," says Yiannis Papadakis, deputy chairman of the Hellenic association of travel and tourist agencies (Hatta).</p>
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"But we also stand to benefit as there will be a lack of availability. Turkey is already between 80 and 85 percent booked and will be fully booked in about two months," he told AFP.</p>
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Early booking data from key European target markets -- Germany, Britain, France and Russia -- look promising and family travel is shying away from former favourite destinations in North Africa and the Middle East that have been hit with political turmoil.</p>
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"Bookings from Germany are up eight percent, Britain 12 percent and Russia by over 20 percent while France is also seeing a two-digit rise," says Andreas Andreadis, head of the Panhellenic confederation of hoteliers (POX).</p>
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"They were already rising from January before events in North Africa unfolded as these (European) countries have positive growth rates," he added.</p>
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"It's a normal rebound. This time last year we were a world news story. Now we no longer feature in negative headlines," Andreadis said.</p>
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Official data in January showed that foreign arrivals in Greece in the first nine months of 2010 had risen by 1.5 percent despite the country's economic woes and waves of frequently violent protests in Athens and Thessaloniki.</p>
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In May, three people died in an Athens bank that was firebombed during a protest.</p>
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"Events in May were disastrous, bookings for the entire month were frozen," Andreadis said.</p>
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"We still have two critical months ahead of us, so it's still too early to say how the season will play out."</p>
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Unions have already held a general strike this year against sweeping wage and pension cuts mandated by the EU and the International Monetary Fund after they rescued Greece from imminent bankruptcy with a 110-billion-euro ($154-billion) loan. Another seven national shutdowns were organised last year.</p>
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Some of last year's demonstrations against measures by the Socialist government to deal with an unprecedented debt crisis specifically targeted tourism-related infrastructure including hotels, the main port of Piraeus and the Acropolis, Greece's most emblematic monument.</p>
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At the time, the government offered to compensate travellers stranded in the country after the strikes and protests threatened to sink the season.</p>
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Residents of the popular island of Rhodes even took matters into their own hands, banning striking sailors from their harbour and dispatching flower-toting delegations to welcome incoming cruise ship passengers.</p>
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Price cuts by operators limited the damage but caused a revenue blow.</p>
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The Bank of Greece has said tourism takings were down by 7.3 percent to 9.45 billion euros ($13.2 billion) in the period to November.
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To boost flight traffic, the government this week waived fees at all state airports except Athens International Airport from April 1 to December 31.
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Tourism generates about 18 percent of Greece's gross domestic product.
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Hatta's Papadakis said operators had been lowering their prices at the last minute for the last two years in order to elicit demand.
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Hoteliers in particular saw their takings go down by 13 percent in 2009 and a by another 7 percent in 2010, Andreadis added.
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"A room priced at 50 euros would be reduced to 30 euros," Papadakis said. "That's not going to happen this year".</p>
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