Introduction
A precondition for the functioning of tourism is a suitable and adequate infrastructure, which includes basic facilities such as (transborder) transportation (roads, airports, railway tracks and stations, harbours) for people and goods, accommodation, water supply, waste management and sewage treatment, energy supply, and even health care. In addition to “come, sleep and eat” (and go back home), more infrastructure is needed to make travel to a certain place attractive for people on holidays – people, who want to recover from work, expect to have a good time going out, want to relax on a beach, go on excursions, go shopping, travel around a country, do sightseeing, experience nature, visit cultural sites, communicate with family and friends at home, etc.
For other than leisure purposes, for example MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions), special facilities such as convention halls are necessary; and capacities to accommodate and organize hundreds of people arriving at the same time.
Infrastructure – (not) only for tourism
Developing or upgrading infrastructure for tourism purposes is usually aimed at increasing the number of (foreign) visitors, creating (direct or indirect) job opportunities, establishing or improving supply chains, with the superior objective “to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all” (target 9.1. which is formulated in general terms, not focused on tourism).
Infrastructure which is built to develop or improve tourism cannot be seen in isolation from the surrounding area and the people who live and work there. There is always an impact on local residents, positive or negative. Whether local people benefit from an improved road system depends on thoughtful planning and the living standards of local people. New roads connecting an airport with hotel areas are not helpful for the local population if they have no connections to the housing areas in the region. In case public transport is not expanded correspondingly, mainly local people who own a vehicle may benefit from new roads. An airport can be seen as “gateway to the world” – only if one can afford to buy a flight ticket. Although improved infrastructure could be a step towards better livelihoods, it might at the same time widen the gap between poor and rich. Similar patterns and interrelations as in the transport sector occur concerning water and energy supply, or waste water treatment.
Another aspect is the additional traffic and traffic jams caused by tourist buses or (hired) vehicles, either used for transportation or for excursions. The air pollution they generate in the destination cannot be neglected, although it is only a small part of the ecological footprint, compared to flights to the destination (FUR 2014).
Financing and investment for infrastructure
Planning, construction and maintenance of major infrastructure projects require medium and long-term investments. In general, investments in different kinds of transport, energy (power plants), water supply, or handling and treatment of waste and sewage are made by public authorities. These investments by the state, local governments or communities are usually based on public-sector loans, often involving international donors like the World Bank or regional development banks.
During the development of big multi-annual infrastructure projects, social impacts and sustainability are often not considered seriously, and local people complain that decisions on projects are made without consulting or informing them. Investors and local authorities sometimes see participation in decision making processes as a procedure which tends to make a project more difficult or even impossible to implement and costs time and money. The larger the gaps in living standards and education between the local population and the responsible officials (or tourists who shall to use this infrastructure), the less opportunities residents usually get to be involved in a meaningful manner.
Relatively recent models of (foreign) financing of (tourism) projects are the so-called public private partnerships (PPP), i.e. combined investments from the public and private sec- tors. They are aimed at a more efficient realization of projects (see also target 9.4). The money mainly comes from a private investor, reducing the need for public spending, while the public partner is responsible for ensuring that the project is in the public interest. The conflict is obvious: profit maximisation versus public welfare.