TUI sees earnings at top end of range despite Tunisia attack

* Tunisia attacks result in 35-40 mln euro impact

* FY guidance of between 12.5 - 15 pct core earnings growth

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) rise 8 pct (Adds CEO comments, analyst comments, share price)

By Sarah Young and Victoria Bryan

BERLIN/LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Strong summer holiday demand offset the impact of the Tunisian beach massacre for TUI which said annual profit would come in at the upper end of its forecast range.

The world's largest leisure tourism group, TUI (LSE: TUI.L - news) said summer trading had been robust and it now expected underlying core earnings (EBITA) to rise by between 12.5 and 15 percent in the current financial year, against a previous forecast for between 10 and 15 percent.

European holiday companies have had to cope this summer with the impact of an attack on a beach massacre in Tunisia in late June that killed 38 people, 33 of whom were TUI customers. The Greek financial crisis has also affected tourist travel.

Cancelled holidays to Tunisia would cost between 35 million euros and 40 million euros ($39-44 million) this year, TUI co-chief executives Peter Long and Friedrich Joussen said.

Shares in TUI, which had lost about 10 percent of their value since the day before the June 26 attack in Tunisia, climbed 8 percent to 1,130 pence at 0845 GMT.

TUI and rival Thomas Cook (Xetra: A0MR3W - news) rushed to pull holidaymakers out of Tunisia after Britain and other countries told them to leave. Trips to the North African country have been cancelled until October, leaving TUI with empty hotels.

Long was not optimistic that TUI's full holiday programme in Tunisia would return any time soon.

"I sadly don't think that we're going to see a full reinstatement of the programme in the near term," he said.

Thomas Cook said in July that its annual profit would be reduced by 25 million pounds due to events in both Tunisia and Greece.

"TUI appears to be outperforming Thomas Cook and handling the challenges of Greece and Tunisia," said Numis analyst Wyn Ellis, adding that the outlook was encouraging.

This summer's robust demand has been driven by strong appetite for cruise holidays and as Britons booked more holidays abroad, encouraged by the strength of the pound.

Holidaymakers in northern Europe were deterred from booking trips to Greece in late June and early July due to concerns over Greece's potential exit from the euro zone.

TUI said that in recent weeks there had been a recovery in bookings to Greece, which accounts for about 10 percent of its holidays, and overall bookings there were up year-on-year.

Shares in Thomas Cook also rose 3.6 percent on Thursday, reflecting the positive update from TUI.

When asked about the situation on some Greek islands, notably Kos, where there have been clashes between police and migrants, TUI's Joussen said it was not affecting bookings at the minute.

($1 = 0.8980 euros) (Additional reporting by Peter Maushagen; Editing by Keith Weir)