Rural tourism, as a specific form of tourism, is experiencing an increasing demand worldwide. Reasons for this refer to the growing environmental awareness and demand for sustainable forms of tourism over time, the need to escape from the hectic everyday life, the desire of man to return to traditional values. The viral pandemic COVID-19 has additionally encouraged tourists to seek out destinations that can provide them with the above elements, and this fact reflects the possibility of strengthening the development of rural tourism in the Republic of Croatia. It is common knowledge that tourism from Continental Croatia is poorly developed in relation to tourism in the area of Coastal Croatia. However, mass tourism is experiencing large losses. Therefore, by valorizing resources in rural areas of the Croatian continent, strengthening marketing activities through regional and national tourism institutions, and bringing together stakeholders and all other relevant actors, it is necessary to diversify and adapt the national tourism offer to the current tourism needs, which are directly related to the impact of the COVID-19 virus pandemic. Accordingly, the paper was prepared to determine the possibility of improving the development of rural tourism in Continental Croatia due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and to what extent COVID -19 can promote the development of rural tourism from the perspective of Generation Y. The methodology of the paper refers to the use of secondary and primary data sources. Secondary data includes the review of recent professional and scientific literature and its analysis by the rules of the academic community. At the empirical level, to examine and analyze the attitudes and preferences of younger generations of tourism consumers towards travel to rural tourism destinations during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, research will be conducted on an appropriate sample. The research instrument will be a survey, and the collected data will be analyzed using standard scientific methods.