European Rural Businesses During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Designing Initiatives For Current And Future Development

The main purpose of this paper is to identify and explore the initiatives which the European rural businesses have deployed when coping with Covid-19 pandemic and to emphasize the impact of these initiatives for the further development of the rural business environment in post Covid-19 pandemic in Europe. Rural businesses contribute towards Europe’s growth and prosperity and, furthermore, help to preserve the cultural heritage for future generations. Also, have a huge impact on the development of the rural areas, through their socio-economic contribution: employment, suppliers, customers, business competitors. The Covid-19 pandemic has strongly influenced people’s lives and business activeness of rural areas. The widespread pandemic has given rise to significant challenges for the development of rural businesses. In order to exceed these circumstances, have been launched certain initiatives for supporting rural businesses in the fight against Covid-19:websites collecting examples of initiatives deployed by rural businesses, online platforms that promote local products and drive-in services for selling local food.The results of this research underline the fact that all the initiatives focused their attention towards supporting and developing the operations of rural businesses during Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, this type of initiatives can provide inspiration for forthcoming responses to global pandemic and other types of crisis.