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Evaluation of economic, environmental, and social impacts of COVID on rural tourism

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Abstract

Tourism is widely recognized as the best alternative for improving the financial situation of disadvantaged neighbourhoods and villages, given that they have the necessary capacity for the growth of tourism. However, the COVID epidemic had far-reaching consequences for human life everywhere it appeared. But the COVID epidemic had a significant effect on human life all across the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse effect on many parts of the world economy, but it is undeniable that the rural tourism sector has been particularly affected. The purpose of this research was to examine the impacts of the COVID pandemic on rural tourism by comparing the field both before and after the pandemic occurred along three key social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Survey methodology was employed for this quantitative research. Participants in rural tourism were used as the study's population sample. A confirmatory factor analysis reveals a favorable fit between the model's constructs. The study found that the presence of COVID had a negative effect, such as lessening the beneficial effects of tourism on the economy and society, which were emphasized by both experts and rural customers. Those engaged in rural tourism claim that the natural aspects of popular tourist areas earlier and after COVID were distinct, and the lack of tourists in this region has led to a significant reduction in the negative effects on the environment.

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Abbreviations

COVID:

Coronavirus disease

CFA:

Confirmatory factor analysis

CEE:

Central and eastern European

SEM:

Structural equation modeling

SC:

Standard coefficient

NNFI:

Non-normed fit index

NFI:

Normed fit index

GFI:

Goodness of fit index

CFI:

Comparative fit index

AGFI:

Adjusted goodness of fit index

RMR:

Root mean square residual

IFI:

Increasing fitness index

RMSEA:

Root mean square error of approximation

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Acknowledgements

Not Applicable.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty Economic and Business, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

    Iskandar Muda

  2. Amity Institute of Travel and Tourism, Amity University, Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Sunil Kumar Vohra

  3. Department of General Marketing, Lovely Professional University, Delhi, GT Road, Phagwara, Punjab, India

    Veer P. Gangwar

  4. Department of MBA, Lingaraj Appa Engineering College, Bidar, Karnataka, 585403, India

    Bhadrappa Haralayya

  5. School of Computer Applications, BBD University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Prabhdeep Singh

  6. Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University, Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Ashish Kumar Pandey

  7. Department of Management, Bule Hora University, Agere Mariyam, Ethiopia

    Getnet Worke Abate

Authors
  1. Iskandar Muda
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  2. Sunil Kumar Vohra
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  3. Veer P. Gangwar
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  4. Bhadrappa Haralayya
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  5. Prabhdeep Singh
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  6. Ashish Kumar Pandey
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  7. Getnet Worke Abate
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Contributions

Conceptualization, IM and SKV; methodology, VPG; software, PS; validation, AKP, PS and BH; formal analysis, GWA; investigation, AKP; resources, GWA; data curation, PS; writing—original draft preparation, GWA; writing—review and editing, BH and VPG; visualization, IM; supervision, IM and VPG; project administration, GWA.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Getnet Worke Abate.

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Muda, I., Vohra, S.K., Gangwar, V.P. et al. Evaluation of economic, environmental, and social impacts of COVID on rural tourism. Environ Dev Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-04884-z

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