**2. Literature Review**

Tourism is viewed as one of the fastest growing fields over recent decades, especially in emerging and developing economies. According to Thapa (2012), although the tourism industry has obviously grown, it is important to maintain and develop it with a sustainable strategy for further expansion. Investment in infrastructure development, emphasizing tourism infrastructure, is considered one of the critical factors to help achieve this goal. Scholars and policymakers agree that infrastructure development plays a key role in maintaining visitor arrivals and overall economic growth (Suleiman and Albiman 2014; Yu 2016). "The maintenance of local tourism infrastructure is becoming an increasingly important prerequisite for the country's competitiveness" (Petrova et al. 2018, p. 259). Moreover, widespread and efficient infrastructure is an important factor in ensuring the efficient functioning of the economy (Bookman and Bookman 2007). Conversely, weak infrastructure can

disrupt a country's economic development and international competitiveness (Tribe 2004; Hope 2010).

Tourism infrastructure is a type of infrastructure consisting of facilities and services performed within a particular locality to meet the needs of local residents and specific purposes (Goeldner and Ritchie 2009). "It is considered as the physical element that is designed and erected to cater to visitors" (Jovanovi´c and Ili´c 2016, p. 289). Tourism infrastructure has the potential to increase competition and promote tourism by providing travel facilities for tourists (Suleiman and Albiman 2014). Further, Lim et al. (2019, p. 187) pointed out that "tourism infrastructure increases tourism demand trends". The scope of tourism infrastructure is wide and involves all the factors that can facilitate and promote a destination's tourism development (Swarbrooke and Horner 2001). In a broad sense, tourism infrastructure encompasses all of the means that tourists use when they leave home, arrive at their destination, and return home (Lohmann and Netto 2017).

Tourism infrastructure has long been considered a part of tourism and plays a key role in attracting tourists. Seetanah et al. (2011, p. 92) emphasize "the role of service infrastructure in creating product experience and shaping the overall image of a destination for tourists". Thus, tourism infrastructure is the basis of tourism development. Investment in tourism infrastructure is important in increasing tourist arrivals, and contributes to visitor satisfaction and motivation. As a component of regional tourism, tourism infrastructure is of particular importance for long run tourism growth and the general progress of tourist destinations by providing the required services to tourists. The apparent relationship between tourism development and infrastructure has been confirmed in theory and practice by many authors.

The literature provides different views on the number and type of components representing tourism infrastructure, which can be classified in many various ways. Pearce and Wu (2015) divide tourism infrastructure into two types, namely hard and soft, which Hope (2010, p. 91) called "social and economic infrastructure". According to Enimola (2010, p. 121), "the social infrastructure sub-sector covers some social services like the provision of education, information, town and country planning, health services and other social welfare services in the society"; while "the economic infrastructural sector embraces a group of hard-core economic activities which relate to the production of energy and power, transportation services, water and communication services and others" (Ayodele and Falokun 2003, p. 74). From the model of Pearce and Wu (2015), Bagheri et al. (2018, p. 89) have shown that "to systematize the tourism sector within the soft infrastructure, an amalgamation of diverse factors is shaped, including hospitality, interpretation, and person-to-person encounters that tourists experience". According to Bagheri et al. (2018, p. 89), "Thapa (2012) has also added professional human resources to the sub-set of soft infrastructures, emphasizing the human factor as the most important infrastructure element in developing countries".

Approaching the components of tourism infrastructure, Raina (2005) divides it into four categories, namely: "1. Physical; 2. Cultural; 3. Service; 4. Governance". Ouariti and Jebrane (2020, p. 5) indicated that physical infrastructure includes "hotels, motels, restaurants, transportation, communications, water, electricity"; cultural infrastructure includes "culture, heritage, fairs and festivals, local art and music, dress and dance, language and food"; service infrastructure includes "banking facilities, travel agencies, insurance agencies, tourist guides"; governance infrastructure includes "law and order machinery, customs and immigration".

From the perspective of tourism infrastructure types, Ouariti and Jebrane (2020, p. 5) point out that "the Tourism and Transport Forum (2012) affirms that tourism infrastructure is the supply chain of transport infrastructure, social and environmental infrastructure collaborating at a regional level to create an attractive tourism destination". Among the three components of tourism infrastructure proposed by the Tourism and Transport Forum (2012), social infrastructure is financed mainly by the private sector, while the state mainly controls the environmental and transport infrastructure. The state is responsible

for investing directly in the construction and development of this sector. Today, many countries that want to achieve high business results by attracting more international tourists often focus on increasing investment in the construction and development of tourism infrastructure.
