review on covid-19 impact

Eastern entrance to Dubrovnik, photo by TIC Dubrovnik, Antonija Durkovic

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It has been already two months since everything was shut down due to Corona virus and it is time to look back and to evaluate its impact on tourism industry in Dubrovnik. It is important to know that tourism as an industry in Croatia is the main economic segment and generates best part of annual revenue for the entire country. Majority of local people work in this branch and therefore many other services directly or indirectly depend on tourism. Thus, we could say that Croatian economy and social stability is higly dependent on this industry.
 
The newest information regarding Covid-19 in Dubrovnik reports that there are 42 active confirmed cases, out of 115 in total. Until today 65 successfully recovered, while 8 people died. This data covers City of Dubrovnik as well as entire Dubrovnik-Neretva County. According to the Croatian Health Ministry the situation so far has been under the control. The total number of infected people in Croatia at this moment  is 2.125 from which; 1.641 fully recovered and 86 died. Clearly, only 398 active cases have been reported this moment.
 
But what does this all mean for tourism in Croatia?
 
Even though the health situation in Croatia is being stable and well handled, but yet this does not mean that Croatian tourism and the entire country’s economy will not suffer significant consequences of this pandemic for quite some time. It is already visible that decrease in tourist arrivals for the season is unpredictable, as all of the EU countries are trying to maintain their citizens within their borders for most likely until the end of this year.  

But let's point out some of the information about tourist arrivals in Dubrovnik for the following period. Major part of Dubrovnik's strategic plan for tourist arrivals depends on flight connections. In comparison to other Croatian destinations, Dubrovnik is very far for travellers whose main transportation is car or bus and for those visitors who arrive from nearby European countries. On contrarily, region of Istria is much closer to reach by car or by bus for Austrians, Italians or Hungarians, while Dubrovnik is located far south and maintains to be highly dependent on airline connections.
 
Furthermore, Covid-19 pandemic has already shown its impact beyond the health effects. It has significantly transformed everything we used to know as “normal life”.  The flight connections for Dubrovnik are entirely cut off in response to this pandemic and it is not yet clear for when the flights will be rescheduled. We are hoping that at least majority of the flights will be rescheduled within next few months so that we can at least have some hopes for peak season in October instead of August this year.
 
Anyhow, it will take some time to recover and to get back to regular daily routines, but it is important to remain patient, hope for the best and to keep an update on global situation.
 
We will try to keep you posted on latest news and tourist information regularly