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Lots of ag products (highest values are in vegetables and fruits), beverages, tobacco, some manufactured products (leather, rubber, cork, etc), some base metals (copper, aluminum, zinc). Some manufactured products are in the mixx.

They have some of the same big “elephant in the room” types of issues that most western nations do WRT their labor force and economy. One-fifth (!) of their workforce is made of immigrants, who are mostly in ag and construction.

But tourism is their kingpin. It’s something like 15% of their GDP and employs over 16% (last numbers I saw in 2010 when this started) of their workforce.

Losing tourism means losing a Big Freakin’ Deal of money. Losing tourism means that their economy, which is already circling the drain as the government implements the austerity cuts required by creditors, has no way to come back from the brink. Tourism is one of the few things they do that brings money *into* Greece - they run a trade deficit that reached horrible proportions for them in 2008. Since then, it improved a bit, but not enough to reverse this. Part of what is ruining them is this persistent trade deficit - and what is happening to Greece eventually will happen to all nations running a large trade/current account deficit with large debt loads. Including *us*.

This is why I think the government will come to a point where they’re going to want to stomp on the protests really hard. If the protestors keep doing as they’re doing this past weekend (burning banks, government buildings, etc), then the government faces an endgame choice: Go under with the economy sinking as fast as it is (and the stats on the overall Greek economy are getting mighty grim), or come down hard and fast on the protests, lock the place down and start reassuring the tourists that there is order on the streets at night.

They have the history where they’ve shot people in the streets before. I don’t think that they’re beyond doing it again.

Just a tidbit to keep in mind as we watch their situation unfold:

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/11/53291

20% unemployment is depression territory.

And the “austerity” cuts the government has to make to fund the next tranche of bailout will only make that number worse, given the number of government employees they have to cut.