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Athens - The Greek economy may be basking in the glow of a record summer tourism season, but it is just one bright spot in a fragile recovery overshadowed by weak exports, economists say.
After six years of recession, Greece got an economic boost from the May through September tourist season, welcoming more than 20 million visitors. The Greek statistics agency said the economy grew by 0.7% in the third quarter.
"Tourism did the best it could to lift the Greek economy but it can't do it all," said economist Panagoitis Petrakis at Athens University.
"It was a mistake to think during the planning of the international aid (for Greece) that the recovery would come from exports," Petrakis added.
Unlike other debt-hit eurozone countries rescued by international bailouts, Greece's exports have "only marginally recovered" from the low of 2008/09, the European Commission said in a June report.
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"There's a big difference between Greece and the other countries that went through restructuring programmes, such as Ireland and Portugal, or received aid for its banks like Spain," said German researcher Jens Bastian, an expert on the Greek economy.
Ireland, Portugal and Spain saw their exports recover by 2013, even surpassing the level they were at before the 2008 financial crisis, the Commission report showed.
In the same period Greek exports recovered very slowly and failed to regain their 2008 level. Exports declined 0.2% between 2012 and 2013 (minus 2.0% without fuel and oil products) and minus 7.2% in the 12 months between October 2013 and September 2014.
The Greek government has insisted that only by boosting exports can the country pull out of the crisis, which has seen gross domestic product (GDP) shrink by 25% since 2008.
It argues that domestic demand cannot be expected to drive the recovery since demand has been severely crippled by austerity policies.
Greece's union of exporters puts some blame on the high cost of energy for businesses, although gas and electricity rates are not notably different from those of Italy and Portugal.
Exports remain the motor of the Portugese economy, which grew by 5.7% in 2012 and 4.6% in 2013.
"Unfortunately, Greece does not have a big neighbour like Spain, Portugal's top client nation, to take its exports," Petrakis said.
Oil products top Greek exports, followed by manufactured goods (medicines, plastics, transport material) and agricultural products - Greece is the European leader in sea fish farming.
However, Bastian noted that these exports are subject to wide swings in prices in the marketplace.
Turkey in the past few years has become the top destination for Greek exports, accounting for 11.7% of them, followed by Italy at 8.9% and Germany at 6.5%.
The European Commission says the stagnation in Greek exports, at a third of their potential, is due to structural handicaps, including customs, administration and infrastructure.
Emboldened by the successful summer season, the tourism industry is calling on the government to create a 12-month-long tourism season, like competing countries such as Cyprus, Spain, Italy and Portugal.
To fix "this disadvantage for Greek tourism, which continues to be the motor of the country's economy, a new tourism model is needed," said a study by the Tourist Research Institute (ITEP), published by the chamber of Greek hoteliers.
"It is only the state that can ensure this development under the form of subsidies, tax reductions and other measures," said Andreas Metaxas, president of ITEP.
The hotel owners attributed the rise in the number of tourists this year not only to a more stable Greece but also to escalating violence in nearby Turkey, Egypt and the Middle East.
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