WRAPUP 3-Travel, tourism stocks in turmoil on swine flu

* Airline stocks fall on flu scare

* Hotels, cruise ship operators also lower

* Steep drop in travel feared (Updates with analyst comment on potential effects)

By Tim Hepher and Deepa Seetharaman

PARIS/NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) - Investors fled investments in air, land and sea on Monday as fears of a flu pandemic rekindled memories of the Asian SARS crisis that caused widespread industry turmoil six years ago.

From Sydney to New York, selling hit the world's leading airline brands, hotels and cruise operators and the cost of insuring airline debt rose following the outbreak of swine flu.

The United States declared a public health emergency and Americans and Europeans were urged to avoid non-essential travel to Mexico, where more than 100 people have died from the outbreak.

U.S. airlines most heavily exposed to Mexico racked up double-digit losses in trading. The AMEX airlines index .XAL fell 10.6 percent.

Continental Airlines (CAL.N), which offers more seats than any foreign airline into and out of Mexico, according to data provided exclusively to Reuters by airline schedules consultancy Innovata, saw its stock fall 16.4 percent.