Standard & Poor’s says strong tourism and rising non-tourism exports will underpin the continued growth outperformance of Mediterranean eurozone countries over their northern counterparts.

“Manufacturing is thriving in Greece, Italy and Portugal, while high-value non-tourism services are boosting growth in Cyprus, Croatia, Malta, Slovenia and Spain. This trend is leading to a more sustainable and diversified export-driven economy. The bright spots of the stagnant eurozone have largely been its southern members, especially most of the nine so-called Club Med states (Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain, as well as France and Italy),” the analysts said.

The two main reasons behind this trend are:

1. First, their relatively stronger private sector balance sheets, both compared to their northern counterparts and compared to pre-financial crisis levels.

2. Second, we see improved export performance both quantitatively and qualitatively, where we see not only a boom in tourism but also increasing export diversification.