ECO CERTIFICATION AS A TOOL FOR FOSTERING TOURISM DESTINATION SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – ADRIATIC CROATIA TOURISM STAKEHOLDERS' WEBSITE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Sustainable development is becoming an increasingly important prerequisite in the tourism development. Ecological certification programs may be one of the solutions in achieving sustainability in tourism due to coordinated activities of all relevant stakeholders. Therefore, the gaol is to identify and analyse the support of tourist boards and public authorities in the sustainable tourism development in the context of ecological certification programs. To identify the support that tourist boards and public authorities provide, the content of their web site was analysed in seven Adriatic counties. Descriptive and content analyses were used to analyse the data available on web sites. Three ecological certification programs were promoted by stakeholders. The results suggest a lack of support of sustainable tourism development by promoting the ecological certification programs that mainly focus on providing information.