The impact of COVID-19 on tourism and GDP trends in the Republic of Croatia

Pandemija COVID – 19 je jedna od najvećih ekonomskih kriza do sada, a Europska unija je jedna od najgore pogođenih dijelova svijeta. Ekonomske posljedice ove pandemije odrazit će se kroz recesiju i velik porast nezaposlenosti, a svijetu će biti potreban dugi niz godina da se oporavi od ove pandemije. Kako bi se nastojao smanjiti utjecaj pandemije na gospodarstvo, Vlada Republike Hrvatske donijela je pakete mjera, pogotovo za pomoć gospodarstvenika kojima je uslijed pandemije bio smanjen prihod ili oni koji za vrijeme pandemije nisu mogli raditi. Mjere su također uključile i odgodu predaje financijskih izvještaja za 2019. godinu, područja javnih davanja što se odnosilo na porez na dohodak te su dodatne mjere bile usmjerene i poljoprivrednicima kojima je omogućena odgoda plaćanja obveza. Trenutačno, jedan od najpogođenijih sektora je turizam. Turizam Hrvatske bilježio je pozitivan trend, sve do pojave pandemije kada je pad broja dolazaka turista u odnosu na rekordnu 2019. godinu bio manji za 64,2% odnosno pad prihoda od 54,3%. Turizam ima izrazito veliko funkciju u gospodarstvu, a pogotovo za hrvatsko gospodarstvo. Hrvatska je zemlja sa najveći udjelom turizma u BDP – u. Na temelju provedene regresijske analize utvrđeno je da BDP kao zavisna varijabla ovisi o kretanju broja noćenja u turizmu.The COVID - 19 pandemic is one of the biggest economic crises to date, and the European Union is one of the worst affected part of the world. The economic consequences of this pandemic will be reflected through a recession and a sharp rise in unemployment, and it will take the world many years to recover from this pandemic. In order to reduce the impact of the pandemic on the economy, the Government of the Republic of Croatia has determined a series of measures, especially to help businessmen whose income was reduced due to the pandemic or those who could not work during the pandemic. The measures also included the postponement of the submission of financial statements for 2019, the area of public benefits related to income tax, and additional measures were also aimed at farmers who were allowed to defer payment of obligations. Currently, one of the most affected sectors is tourism. Croatian tourism recorded a positive trend, until the outbreak of the pandemic, when the decline in the number of tourist arrivals compared to the record year of 2019 was lower by 64.2% and a decline in revenue of 54.3%. Tourism has an extremely large function in the economy, and especially for the Croatian economy. Croatia is the country with the largest share of tourism in GDP. Based on the conducted regression analysis, it was established that GDP as a dependent variable depends on the number of overnight stays in tourism