The Impact of New Infrastructure Investment on the International Tourism Industry: Evidence from Provincial-Level Panel Data in China
Zhian Yang,
Pingzhang Lv () and
Shiqiang Sun
Additional contact information
Zhian Yang: School of Economics, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, China
Pingzhang Lv: School of Economics, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, China
Shiqiang Sun: School of Economics, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, China
Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-19
Abstract:
After the end of the COVID-19 epidemic, the global tourism market is continuing to recover, and tourism is once again becoming a significant part of the national economies of many countries. This study used panel data from 31 provinces and cities in China between 2011 and 2019 for empirical testing, aiming to understand the contribution of new infrastructure investment in China to the international tourism industry. The research findings indicate that infrastructure investment in China had a positive impact on the development of international tourism. Infrastructure investment in China increased by 1%, with the number of inbound overnight tourists and international tourism revenue increasing by 0.373% and 0.570%, respectively. Mechanism analysis shows that transportation accessibility and information technology levels influenced international tourism; that is, new infrastructure investments improved the regional transportation environment and enhanced the level of information technology, which was beneficial for international tourism. In addition, there was apparent regional heterogeneity in the impact of new infrastructure investments in China on the international tourism industry. Overall, the conclusions drawn in this article are novel and provide vital policy implications for promoting the sustainable development of China’s tourism industry.
Keywords: infrastructure investment in China; international tourism industry; transportation accessibility; information technology level; regional heterogeneity; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/6/2334/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/6/2334/ (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:6:p:2334-:d:1607203
Access Statistics for this article
Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu
More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().