Text Author: PhD Ivan Herak,
member of ACI Management Board for Finances, Corporate Law and Human Resorces

To ACI, sustainable development is not only a trend in its socially responsible business practices and an opportunity for enhancing its image but also an absolute imperative in all segments of its business

Connection between tourism and environment

The ever-increasing exposure to a global tourist demand threatens the Croatian tourist area with erosion and deterioration of its values, progressively emphasising, in turn, a need to find a model to protect and improve this area in accordance with European values and policies of sustainable tourism development. Therefore, it is the activities that avoid, reduce and compensate for the pressure of tourism on environment that are at the centre of our work.

Tourism and environment are in a complex relationship of mutual influence and interdependence. On the one hand, preserved environment is a vital segment of the attractiveness of the tourist area, its competitiveness and sustainability. Attractive and preserved natural heritage is a competitive advantage of the Croatian tourism. Undeniably, Croatia belongs to a group of countries that primarily attract visitors with the features of its natural space and the richness of its cultural and natural heritage, rather that quality, availability or variety of newly-formed tourist attractions, indicating the existential significance of preserving our natural heritage for the sustainability and competitiveness of Croatian tourism. On the other hand, tourism, unquestionably, can have a significant negative impact on the environment. The greatest pressure is generated by the ever-increasing intensity of tourist demand, due to the transport of tourists to their destinations and the emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the air, waters and the sea that go with it. Of that, about 40% is air travel, 30% is car transport and 20% tourist accommodation. In spite of this, it cannot be denied that the increase in tourism, environmental protection and social prosperity are, in conditions of a controlled growth of the industry, mutually supporting, rather than opposing, goals…