Unrest in Egypt, Tunisia forces change in vacation plans

Madrid, Spain - The political crisis in Egypt and Tunisia, European tour operators struggling away from package holidays to destinations more stable, and thousands of tourists have been diverted to the beaches in Spain, a Spanish tourism official.

"We can not be satisfied with the unfortunate circumstances elsewhere," said Gallego, Rafael Nadal, President of the Spanish Federation of Travel Agents in the register. "But the growth (tourists) have arrived at an important time", such as Spain recovered from a deep economic recession.

In addition, some thousands of tourists from England, Germany and Scandinavia who have already arrived in the Spanish Canary Islands, projections there could be tens of thousands of new holiday in May, said Gallego.

Now, seven of 'island in the Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean west of Morocco, is just one part of Spain that can compete directly with the Egyptian and Tunisian beach holiday business in the winter.

But if the political uncertainty continues in North Africa in package tours in the spring and summer for these destinations to be diverted from the Spanish Mediterranean coast and islands, could be hundreds of thousands of new visitors this year, "said Gallego .

Tunisia's beaches were a popular destination for French tourists, Gallego said, and some of them could be applied to the Spanish coast before next summer too.

Russian and Eastern European tourists who were traveling to vacation together in Egypt and Tunisia may instead go to multiple numbers in Turkey, "said Gallego, based on information that he said makes the turn between the tour operator and travel agencies.

Egypt had nearly 12 million international tourist arrivals in 2009 compared with almost 7 million euro in Tunisia, and 52 million for Spain, which is one of the world's four major tourist attractions such as France, the United States and China, the United Nations World Tourism Organization reports.

The Canary Islands had 11 million tourists, including foreigners and Spaniards in 2010, an increase of three percent compared to 2009. The more tourists are now diverted from Egypt and Tunisia are the Canary Islands to recover, "said Gallego, who is based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

But away from package tours to North Africa to Spain or elsewhere is not always a movement now.

A package holiday in the Canary Islands cost about 30 percent more than similar beach holiday in Egypt or Tunisia, "said Gallego.

So rough price negotiations followed, in which the Spanish hotel operators agree on a price below which still turns to be more than the tour operator and the individual tourist would pay in Egypt or Tunisia, "said Gallego.