The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the activities of national parks and nature parks in Croatia

Koronakriza koja je nastala nekontroliranim širenjem virusa SARS-CoV-2 iz Kine u vrlo kratkom periodu zahvatila je gotovo sve dijelove svijeta te Svjetska zdravstvena organizacija u ožujku 2020. godine proglasila je epidemiju. Učinci epidemije bili su izraženi u svim dijelovima svijeta, a veoma je pogođena turistička djelatnost u zemljama koje su izrazito ovisne o prihodima od turizma. Stroge epidemiološke mjere donesene radi sprečavana širenja virusa otežavale su internacionalna putovanja i većina se zemalja okrenula domaćim posjetiteljima. Zaštićena prirodna područja u Hrvatskoj, a posebice nacionalni parkovi (8) i parkovi prirode (11) su zbog drastičnog smanjenja broja posjetitelja zbrajali izrazito velike financijske gubitke naročito u predsezoni (za vrijeme trajanja lockdowna) 2020. jer su bili u potpunosti zatvoreni za posjetitelje.The corona crisis caused by the uncontrolled spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from China, in a very short period of time has affected almost all parts of the world and in March 2020 the World Health Organization declared the pandemic. The effects of the pandemic have been pronounced in all parts of the world, with tourism being most affected in countries that highly depend on tourism revenues. Strict epidemiological measures taken to prevent the spread of the virus have hampered international travel, and most countries have turned to domestic visitors. Protected natural areas in Croatia, and especially national parks (8) and nature parks (11) have accumulated extremely large financial losses due to the drastic reduction in the number of visitors, especially in the pre-season (during the lockdown) in 2020 because they were completely closed for visitors