The fall from the position of an idol from a poster to the role of the epicenter of the plague came after the government, fearing economic impact, decided in early summer to open borders and attract foreign tourists, who form a pillar of the Croatian economy. After becoming infected in the country, visitors took the virus home.
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Croatia has now become a textbook example of how international tourism acts as an accelerator in a pandemic. According to medics, travel to Croatia and other traditional tourist destinations has caused an increase in those infected across Europe. In France, domestic tourists are associated with the spread of the infection on the south and Atlantic coasts. Spain is experiencing a record increase in those infected in Madrid and resorts, where large numbers of domestic and foreign tourists have arrived.
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According to experts, the re-spread of covid-19 is driven by tourism in all holiday resorts. However, the role of little Croatia in the current spread of the disease is disproportionate and shows how the tourist season has destroyed some of Europe’s dearly won victories in the battle against coronavirus.
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After the closure was lifted, the Croatian authorities had clubs and bars opened in popular destinations on the Adriatic, attracting both German backpackers and celebrities such as Jay-Z and Beyoncé. Similarly, after the opening of the European Union’s internal borders, other countries survived, triggering a tourist wave into Europe’s sunny belt.
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“Somehow we have to earn”
The result is a re-spread of the epidemic. This is especially true for young people, who, after returning to their home countries, have contributed to the largest increase in the number of people infected since the first wave in March and April.
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Croatian officials have acknowledged that the full opening of the country to tourists before the season was a necessary risk that was anticipated. According to them, the second alternative was economic collapse.
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“Somehow people have to earn a living,” President Zoran Milanovic said in a recent television interview. “Maybe it won’t be so bad in the end,” he added, referring to the still low number of deaths with covid-19.
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In 2019, Croatia hosted 21 million tourists. By the end of July, 2.5 million visitors had arrived in the country, which was 40 to 50 percent less than last year. Spain saw a 75 percent drop in Portugal, Portugal a 83 percent drop and Turkey even an 86 percent drop in traffic.
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100 thousand Czech tourists
A huge advantage of Croatia, given the limited air traffic, was the country’s location, where tourists from many Central European countries could reach the country relatively comfortably.
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Germany, Austria and the Czechia state that the return of the epidemic has been partly driven by holidaymakers in Croatia since mid-July. According to the German Robert Koch Institute, returnees from the country on the Adriatic accounted for up to 12 percent of detected cases at the beginning of August. In the Czech Republic, which is experiencing record increases in those infected, the return of almost 100,000 tourists from Croatia has helped the disease rise, according to authorities. In Austria, holiday returnees accounted for a third of those infected, of whom more than 1,000 visited Croatia.
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In Croatia alone, with a population of four million, the number of outbreaks rose from a peak of 96 in March to a record 369 on 3 September.
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The situation is strikingly reminiscent of the case of the Austrian ski resort of Ischgl, which helped fuel the spring wave of the epidemic in Europe: thousands of visitors took the disease home from there, while clubs, bars and parties in Ischgl were the driving force behind the infection in Croatia, says chief Croatian epidemiologist Krunoslav Capak.
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Nobody wore veils
“We had tourists who arrived already infected, but the vast majority got infected here,” Capak said.
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Although the Croatian authorities have issued guidelines for bars, restaurants and entertainment establishments, including wearing veils or keeping a safe distance, these were mere recommendations. As a result, some companies operated without any restrictions, Capak added.
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Twenty-six-year-old Mirjam Hagmann from Sweden stated that during her stay on the island of Krk in July, almost no one wore a veil. “It’s understandable: it was hot and no one wanted to put on the veil,” she said. “Everything was like before the pandemic.”
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This was in sharp contrast to winter and spring, when Croatia managed to tame the virus thanks to a well-prepared health care system, decisive epidemic measures and public compliance, said biology professor Ivan Dikić of Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. “But after the initial success, vigilance declined when people, after a strict closure, were eager to go out, travel and enjoy the years. It is still incomprehensible why clubs were allowed to open, “he added.
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