Leadership, innovation and service strategy in China’s rural tourism during post-pandemic period

The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially affected China’s tourism industry. Tourism SMEs, with limited crisis response ability, might be difficult to recover after the pandemic. Regarding the impacts of the pandemic on rural tourism, income for rural attraction sites was almost zero; sightseeing, agri-tourism activities were ceased; and large amount of rural B&Bs faced business closure. However, through three cases, our study found that through either content innovation or process innovation, some B&Bs are able to recover speedily from the pandemic and develop sustainably. These innovations are important for their business strategy adjustment. Innovation creates more value for tourists and stakeholders by developing new service products or adjusting existing products. This chapter discusses the linkages between innovation and leadership. Through the investigation and analysis of three cases, the researchers found that the advantages of transformational leadership were reflected in the post-crisis management in different ways, and effectively improved the innovation ability and sustainable development of post-crisis organizations. This study has enriched the literature on transformational leadership and post-crisis recovery of small tourism enterprises, and has practical reference value for managers of small rural tourism companies.