Maybe It's Time to See Scenic, Broke Greece

If it leaves the eurozone, it'll be a real bargain, experts say
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 18, 2012 1:13 PM CDT
Maybe It's Time to See Scenic, Broke Greece
Two tourists admire the ancient ruins in central Athens.   (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

These days you probably think of Greece as the place threatening to set the euro on fire. It's easy to forget that it's also a pretty beautiful tourist destination, loaded with ancient ruins and sunny beaches—and soon, NPR points out, it could be a pretty cheap destination, too. If Greece leaves the euro, the value of its currency would plummet between 30% and 50%, analysts predict.

"It could become an incredible travel bargain, like Paris in the 1950s," one travel expert says. Of course, there are a few caveats: First, while everything in Greece might be cheaper, airfare probably won't be, and there's no guarantee major tour operators will drop their rates just because their costs have gone down. On the bright side, the place won't be crowded. "We've seen a major cancellation of bookings," says one economist, "because the great majority of tourists are very risk-averse." (More Greece stories.)

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