British tour operator Thomas Cook expects a surge in bookings to Greece if it leaves the eurozone, as holidays to the Mediterranean nation would become better value.
"If Greece exits (the euro), for the tourism industry it could be very profitable," interim chief executive Sam Weihagen said after the company posted a steep first-half loss on Thursday.
"Most probably holidays to Greece will be more profitable for holiday-makers than they are today and places like Spain could lose competitiveness," he told reporters.
The 171-year-old travel group said summer bookings to Greece from Germany were down around 20 percent year-on-year but that bookings from elsewhere to the crisis-hit nation had held up.
Tourism is a vital source of income for Greece, accounting for about a fifth of gross domestic product. The outcome of an election next month will likely decide whether Greece remains in the euro.
Debt-laden Thomas Cook posted a pre-tax loss of GBP£328.3 million (USD$509.2 million) for the six months to the end of March, around 40 percent wider than the loss it reported in the same period a year ago. Its revenues rose 2.4 percent to GBP£3.51 billion.
The company, which had already revealed losses of GBP£263 million for the winter season, secured a GBP£1.4 billion rescue package from its lenders earlier this month. It said on Thursday its turnaround plans were making good progress and that bookings had picked up in recent months.
The tour operator has been hit hard by tough trading conditions, especially in Britain where its core customer base of families with young children has been particularly affected by the economic downturn. It has also been hit by unrest in popular destinations such as Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.
The world's oldest travel group continues to expect this year to be challenging given the economic backdrop and difficult trading environment, particularly in North America and France. It said its full-year performance would be dependent on how well it performs in the late bookings market.
The company said year-on-year UK bookings were up 5 percent over the last four weeks but that demand from British corporate clients for Olympics packages had been weaker than expected.
"UK corporations are less interested in buying our Olympics packages, maybe their profits are stretched or they think they shouldn't be buying these," said Weihagen.
"We're transferring a lot of them to regular customers and there is huge demand."
Thomas Cook has made a series of disposals in recent months to reduce its GBP£890 million debt. Earlier this week shareholders overwhelmingly backed the disposal of five Spanish hotels and the sale and leaseback of part of its aircraft fleet.
It also sold its Indian business to Fairfax Financial for around USD$150 million this month.
