This study, published in Tourism Economics, uses county-level data to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the tourism and hospitality sector, which was by far the most impacted of all sectors, focusing on employment and wage changes. Results support the authors’ hypothesis that rural counties experienced fewer negative impacts or even benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of job growth. Authors: Luyi Han, Stephan J. Goetz, Daniel Eades, Jason Entsminger, Doug Arbogast
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13548166221107814
A related press release is available here: https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/tourism-activity-collapse-during-covid-19-benefited-rural-hospitality-employment/