UPDATE 2-Travel firms propel European stocks to strongest close in 11 weeks

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* Travel stocks shine on plans to open up tourism

* Banks, insurers, automakers among top gainers

* Measures to help French autos sector worth 8 bln euros
(Updates to market close)

By Sruthi Shankar

May 26 (Reuters) - European shares closed at an 11-week high
on Tuesday, with travel and leisure stocks soaring on hopes of a
revival in tourism as countries gradually reopened after a
months-long lockdown.

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 1.1% to hit its
highest closing level since March 9.

Europe's battered travel sector jumped 6.9%
following reports Spain and Germany would ease travel
restrictions, while no noticeable increase in infections were
reported after the easing of lockdowns.

British Airways owner IAG jumped 22.5%, low-cost
carrier easyJet Plc gained 19% and UK-listed shares of
travel group TUI soared 52%.

Germany's Lufthansa extended gains after the
government threw the airline a 9 billion euro ($9.87
billion)lifeline on Monday.

UK's FTSE 100 returned from a holiday to rise 1.2%
as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain will reopen
thousands of high street shops, department stores and shopping
centres next month.

Other hard-hit sectors such as eurozone banks surged
6.5%, bouncing off record low levels, while insurers and
automakers gained about 3% each.

"We believe that the pro-cyclical market bias that we called
for will have some legs, and build on itself in the next weeks,"
J.P. Morgan Cazenove analysts told clients.

"It should last while PMIs are normalizing. The upmove in
Eurozone PMI that we saw last week is likely to extend in the
next reading, for June."

The STOXX 600 has climbed 30% from its mid-March lows, as
hopes of further policy support and improving economic data
fuelled hopes of a faster economic recovery from the novel
coronavirus pandemic.

All eyes will be on the European Commission's release of its
recovery plan on Wednesday to gauge the progress of a
Franco-German proposal for a 500 billion euro grants-based
coronavirus recovery fund.

Paris-headquartered shopping centre operator Klepierre SA
jumped 12.6% after saying it had reopened 80% of its
European malls and hopes to reopen 90% of them within 10 days.

French carmakers Renault SA and Peugeot SA
jumped 6.6% and 5.8% respectively.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that measures
announced to help the country's car industry were worth more
than 8 billion euros ($8.8 billion) in total.

Macron said autonomous and electric vehicles will form a key
part of the sector after the coronavirus crisis.

Sanofi fell 1.3%, in line with broader healthcare
losses, despite the French drugmaker's impending $13 billion
payday from selling most of its 20.6% stake in U.S. partner
Regeneron.

($1 = 0.9116 euros)
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak
Dasgupta and Ken Ferris)