After the Dutch government put Croatia on the orange list of countries because of the coronavirus outbreak, Dutch tourists vacationing in campsites in Istria packed up en masse and left before midnight, the Jutarnji List daily said on Thursday.

The Dutch tourists will continue their summer holidays in neighbouring countries so that they would not have to self-isolate after returning to the Netherlands, the newspaper said.

“A lot of Dutch tourists left last night, and bookings for the next period are being cancelled in large numbers. This is a blow to the Istrian and Croatian tourism industry in every respect because the Dutch began slowly returning at the start of July and the first arrival of larger groups was announced for this weekend,” Croatian Camping Union director Adriano Palman was quoted as saying.

In July to date, 45,555 Dutch tourists arrived in Croatia, generating 243,327 overnight stays, which is 57% of arrivals and 60% of overnight stays recorded at the same time last year. A total of 496,099 arrivals and 2,988,639 overnight stays were generated by Dutch tourists last year, Palman said.

The Netherlands put Croatia on the orange list on Tuesday following a rise in the number of new coronavirus cases in Croatia. The Dutch government recommended that people returning from Croatia should go into 14-day self-isolation.

The Croatian Camping Union has appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the prime minister to try to reassure the Netherlands that all the necessary measures will be taken to put the epidemic under control, Jutarnji List said.