Impact of COVID-19 on Croatian island tourism: a study of residents’ perceptions

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, which marked the whole of 2020, caused numerous difficulties in the economies and the health systems of all countries and led to a global economic and health crisis. This paper explores citizens’ attitudes towards tourism on Croatian islands during the COVID-19 pandemic using survey data from over 200 islanders. The results reveal that almost one-third of the citizens considered the islands overcrowded with tourists in the pre-pandemic period. The survey results indicate a link between the expected impact of the development of tourism, citizens’ attitudes towards tourism, and their willingness to take a larger health risk due to the pandemic. The results also show that islanders’ attitudes toward economic measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic were not homogenous and were significantly different depending on the size of the island.