Rural Recreation and Tourism during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Measuring Short- and Long-term Amenity Migration and Impacts to Rural Communities in Pennsylvania
Open Access
- Author:
- Wildermuth, Grace Amanda
- Graduate Program:
- Rural Sociology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 04, 2022
- Committee Members:
- Kathryn Brasier, Co-Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Stephen Mainzer, Outside Unit & Field Member
Guangqing Chi, Major Field Member
Katherine Zipp, Outside Field Member
Brian Thiede, Co-Chair of Committee
Brian Thiede, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies - Keywords:
- COVID-19 Pandemic
Rural Tourism
Disaster Migration
Amenity Migration
Rural Gentrification - Abstract:
- During the Covid 19 pandemic, many rural communities saw influxes of visitors, vacationers, and new residents, as metropolitan populations left cities to escape to more rural areas in a large-scale pandemic-induced “urban flight”. This dissertation broadly examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted short-term and long-term amenity migration to rural communities in Pennsylvania. Utilizing Pennsylvania monthly short-term rental data from 2014 through 2022, the first chapter examines changes in the short-term rental market over time during the pandemic. The findings suggest that while the pandemic did not alter short-term rental market trends on average in Pennsylvania, it did alter trends for certain types of counties: nonmetropolitan and recreation dependent, both of which saw immediate increases in occupancy after the onset of the pandemic. Additionally, segmented linear regression models were estimated and found that although all counties in Pennsylvania continued to see marginal increases in occupancy rate over time after the pandemic, nonmetropolitan and recreation dependent counties saw the greatest increases. The second chapter draws on data from a survey of 8,000 Pennsylvania residents, and follow-up interviews with 22 survey respondents. It found that Pennsylvanians continued traveling during the pandemic, but decreased their amount of travel and prioritized seeing friends and family. Pennsylvanians tended to feel safest in rural areas during the pandemic, making it no surprise that they sought them out to vacation or relocate. Follow-up interviews showed that people sought out rural areas due to their remote and non-crowded nature, opportunities for outdoor recreation, and their feeling of a “safe space” devoid of covid or risk. Finally, this chapter found that very few respondents suggested that the pandemic changed their residential preferences, but those that did all pointed to less populated areas with more outdoor recreation. Finally, the third chapter investigates the effect of pandemic migration to two rural amenity destination counties in Pennsylvania utilizing a comparative case study design based on 37 in-depth interviews. It found evidence of an “initial shutdown” followed by a period of rebound and growth. In addition, it found an increase in the amount of time that vacation homes were occupied during the pandemic, as well as a trend of vacation homes being converted to full-time residences. The availability of housing decreased while the demand for housing rose greatly in both counties. Very few homes were for sale, and prices skyrocketed. The county near multiple urban centers saw unprecedented demand, which meant that wealthy amenity migrants outcompeted locals to purchase homes to use themselves, or turn into a short-term rental, causing a housing crisis for middle- and low-income residents. Together, these three chapters document how the unique conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic led to increased demand for the consumption of rural, amenity-rich locations in Pennsylvania, and associated positive and negative effects for these rural communities as they also navigated the conditions of a global pandemic.