GEOPOLITIKA STRAHA U HRVATSKOJ: PROMJENE GRANIČNIH REŽIMA I TURIZAM U SJENI PANDEMIJE COVID-19
GEOPOLITICS OF FEAR IN CROATIA: CHANGES IN BORDER REGIMES AND TOURISM IN THE SHADOW OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Summary/Abstract: Tourism becomes an almost impossible activity in the age of pandemics. On the one hand, individuals do not travel due to fear, while on the other hand, states use defense mechanisms such as closing borders and preventing movement. Such mechanisms have geographical characteristics and geopolitically based consequences, so the geographical factor becomes important, and geopolitical analysis inevitable. The closing of borders in the pandemic had a doubly negative effect. The first negative effect refers to the potential violation of human rights in terms of restricting the right to movement. In the considered case, the spread of the virus was not stopped – the movement of citizens was. Another negative effect refers to potential losses in the economy. In this case, the closing of the borders affected the economy in two ways: by interrupting transport and supplies, and by stopping tourist activity. The research is focused on the mechanisms of marking spaces as safe or unsafe and the associated geopolitics of fear, which, along with the mechanisms of border closures, left their mark on tourism in Croatia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis of measures related to the closure of borders and the comparative analysis of data and overnight stays in 2020 and 2021 point to movement patterns during pandemics, but also to potential consequences for tourism with the importance of the geographical factor. Reflecting on the permeability of borders on the example of Croatia and Slovenia, the article points to three intertwined strategies for defining the pandemic space – closing the country in reverse quarantine, expanding the safe space, and defining the unsafe space to which the classic quarantine is applied.

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