The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the need for sustainable, smart tourism and local travel, with rural destinations gaining in their popularity and leading to increased potential of smart rural tourism. However, these processes need adjustments to the current trends, incorporating new transformative business concepts and marketing approaches. In this paper we provide real life examples of new marketing approaches, together with new business models within the context of the use of new digital technologies. Via hermeneutic research approach, consisting of the secondary analysis of the addressed subject of smart rural tourism in adversity of the COVID-19 and 6 semi-structured interviews, the importance of technology is underscored in transforming rural tourism to smart rural tourist destinations. The respondents in the interview section were chosen based on their direct involvement in the presented examples and geographical location, i.e. France, Slovenia and Spain, where presented research examples were developed, concretely within European programmes, i.e. Interreg, Horizon and Rural Development Programme (RDP). Interviews were taking place between 2022 and 2023 in person, email or via Zoom. This two-phased study demonstrates that technology is important in transforming rural tourism to smart tourist destinations and that it ushers new approaches that seem particularly useful in applying to rural areas, creating a rural digital innovation ecosystem, which acts as s heuristic rural tourist model that fosters new types of tourism, i.e. smart rural tourism.

Hybrid learning (HL) has become a significant part of the learning style for the higher education sector in the Sri Lankan context amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis. This research study aims to discover the effectiveness of hybrid learning (EHL) practices in enhancing undergraduates’ outcomes in Sri Lankan Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) management faculties. The data for the study were gathered through an online questionnaire survey, which received 379 responses. The questionnaire contained 38 questions under four sections covering independent variables, excluding demographic questions. The results indicate that hybrid learner attitude, interaction, and benefits of hybrid learning positively impact the effectiveness of hybrid learning. The results remain consistent even after controlling for socio-demographic factors and focusing only on students employed during their higher education. The study concluded that employed students have a higher preference for the effectiveness of hybrid learning concepts, and the benefits of hybrid learning play a crucial role in enhancing the effectiveness among undergraduates. The study analyzes COVID-19’s impact on higher education, proposing hybrid learning and regulatory frameworks based on pandemic experiences while stressing the benefits of remote teaching and research.

During and after the Covid-19 outbreak, people’s precautionary measures of not visiting public venues like cinema halls or multiplexes were replaced by watching treasured videos or films in private settings. People are able to watch their favourite video contents on a variety of internet-connected gadgets thanks to advanced technologies. As a result, it appears that the Covid-19 outbreak has had a substantial impact on people’s inclination to continue using video streaming services. This study attempted to establish an integrated framework that describes how people change their health behaviours during pandemic conditions using the health belief model (HBM), as well as the mediating effect of HBM constructs over ECM constructs such as continuous intention to subscribe to OTT video streaming services among subscribers. The study looked at the impact of three perceived constructs, susceptibility, severity, and self-efficacy, on the confirmation/adoption of over-the-top (OTT) video streaming services during the lethal pandemic (Covid-19). The study focused on new OTT video streaming service subscribers, and 473 valid replies were collected. Path analysis and multivariate analytical methods, such as structural equation modelling (SEM), were used to estimate construct linkages in the integrated framework. Perceived severity has been identified as the most influential factor in confirmation/adoption, followed by perceived susceptibility. The results also showed that satisfied users/subscribers are more likely to use OTT video streaming services. The mediators, confirmation/adoption, perceived usefulness, and satisfaction were used to validate the influence of perceived susceptibility on continuance intention. Furthermore, contactless entertainment enhances security for users/subscribers by allowing them to be amused across several internet-based venues while adhering to social distance norms.

This paper provides a disaster resilience-based approach. For the definition of the approach, a three-step method (definition of components, analysis of the resilience pillars and definitions of resilience-based actions) has been followed. To validate the approach, an application scenario for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic is provided in the paper. The proposed approach contributes to stimulating the co-responsibility quadruple helix of actors in the implementation of actions for disaster management. Moreover, the approach is adaptable and flexible, as it can be used to manage different kinds of disasters, adjusting or changing itself to meet specific needs.

As a global case, COVID-19 has raised concerns from various circles. To overcome these problems, serious steps are needed, especially from the strategic level that plays an important role in formulating policies. This paper tries to describe the steps taken by the Indonesian government, especially the president as the top leader in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. The method used is qualitative description through references that cover various topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in terms of strategic decision making by government leaders. Adaptive leadership as a leader’s ability to deal with various challenges in the midst of conditions filled with uncertainty is very important. Decisions taken by the Indonesian government are based on various considerations, such as economic, geographical, cultural and sociological. The research findings show that in the implementation, the President of Indonesia has taken various concrete steps that have major implications on different sectors. This ultimately led the country to achieve success in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the stress on blood banks and deprived the blood sources due to the containment measures that restrict the movement and travel limitations among blood donors. During this time, Malaysia had a significant 40% reduction in blood supply. Blood centers and hospitals faced a huge challenge balancing blood demand and collection. The health care systems need a proactive plan to withstand the uncertain situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigates the psychosocial factors that affect blood donation behavior during a pandemic and aims to propose evidence-based strategies for a sustainable blood supply. Study design: Qualitative design using focus group discussion (FGD) was employed. Methods: Data were acquired from the two FGDs that group from transfusion medicine specialists (N = 8) and donors (N = 10). The FGD interview protocol was developed based on the UTM Research Ethics Committee’s approval. Then, the data was analyzed using Nvivo based on the General Inductive Approach (GIA). Results: Analysis of the text data found that the psychology of blood donation during the pandemic in Malaysia can be classified into four main themes: (i) reduced donation; (ii) motivation of donating blood; (iii) trends of donation; and (iv) challenges faced by the one-off, occasional, and non-donors. Conclusions: Based on the emerging themes from the FGDs, this study proposes four psycho-contextual strategies for relevant authorities to manage sustainable blood accumulation during the pandemic: (1) develop standard operating procedure for blood donors; (2) organize awareness campaigns; (3) create a centralized integrated blood donors database; and (4) provide innovative Blood Donation Facilities.