How does new infrastructure impact the competitiveness of the tourism industry?——Evidence from China

Infrastructure construction related to the new generation of information technology and 5G technology is an important measure taken by the Chinese government to promote regional economic development. Large-scale infrastructure investment is being carried out simultaneously in China’s core and peripheral regions. The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow to China’s tourism industry, and the application of new technologies seems to blur the spatial boundaries of the tourism industry. Therefore, it is debatable whether the zealous development of large investment projects can really improve the competitiveness of the regional tourism industry. This paper discusses this topical issue by empirically analyzing data from 31 Chinese provinces and cities from 2008–2019 and draws the following conclusions (1) The continuous expansion of new infrastructure investment in China indeed has a positive effect on improving China’s overall tourism competitiveness. However, the inverted U-shaped relationship between the two shows that China should not blindly expand the scale of infrastructure construction and make appropriate investment according to the regional industrial development level. (2) Although convergent infrastructure plays an important role in regional industrial competitiveness, the marginal effect has begun to weaken, so the problem of scale inefficiency needs to be addressed. In contrast, the input of innovation infrastructure is insufficient to enhance industrial competitiveness and can be moderately increased to achieve better results. (3) China’s core economic areas have a good driving effect on new infrastructure investment, but the original technological innovation and transformation-type facilities are still the key to limiting the improvement of industrial competitiveness. Peripheral areas are more passive recipients with strong demand. Therefore, investment in various types of infrastructure can drive regional development.