Acta Univ. Bohem. Merid. 2025, 28(2):46-62 | DOI: 10.32725/acta.2025.00878

Measuring sustainability KPIs in Croatian tourism destinations

Dubravka Vlašić
Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija, Naselje Ika, Primorska 46, p.p. 9751410 Opatija Croatia


Tourism destinations are various areas in which tourism activities take place. Due to the importance and influence they have on the environment it is crucial that their impact should be measured, reported and monitored through sustainability indicators. The system of sustainability indicators that they present for the destination should be uniform, comparable and publicly available. Regarding the fact that there are constant pressures concerning sustainability information from various external users, interested parties and legal requirements, it is important to set proper steps in measurement process at the tourism destination level and to define basic Sustainability KPIs which the tourism destinations will be reporting in order to keep track of their improvements and possibility of comparison with other similar tourism destinations. This paper presents international frameworks of sustainability indicators and steps regarding the process of setting measurements in the tourism destination. The paper also presents Croatian national regulations on tourism destinations reporting sustainability KPIs and current state-of-the-art of Croatian coastal top 5 tourism destination counties’ difficulties in its application. 

Keywords: sustainability information, sustainability KPIs, tourism destination, sustainability framework
JEL classification: L83, O18, Q5

Received: July 17, 2025; Revised: November 5, 2025; Accepted: December 5, 2025; Published: December 5, 2025  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Vlašić, D. (2025). Measuring sustainability KPIs in Croatian tourism destinations. Acta Universitatis Bohemiae Meridionalis, 28(2), 46-62. doi: 10.32725/acta.2025.008
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Agyeiwaah, E., McKercher, B., & Suntikul,W. (2017). Identifying Core Indicators of Sustainable Tourism: A Path Forward? Tourism Management Perspective, 24, 26-33. Go to original source...
    2. Batista e Silva, F., Herrera, M., Rosina, K., Barranco, R. R., Freire, S., & Schiavina, M. (2018). Analysing Spatiotemporal Patterns of Tourism in Europe at High-Resolution with Conventional and Big Data Sources. Tourism Management, 68, 101-115. Go to original source...
    3. Berselli, C., Pereira, L. A., Pereira, T., & Limberger, P. F., (2022). Overtourism: Residents' Perceived Impacts of Tourism Saturation. Tourism Analysis, 27, 161-72. [CrossRef] Go to original source...
    4. Bloyer, J. M., Gustke, L. D., & Leung, Y. (2004); Indicators for sustainable tourism development: Crossing the divide from definitions to actions, Sustainable Tourism, 76, 109-115.
    5. Cerezo-Medina, A., Romero-Padilla, Y., Garcia-Lopez, A., Navarro-Jurado, E., Sortino-Barrionuevo, J. F., & Guevara-Plaza, A. (2022). Comparative Analysis of Short-Term Rental Homes and Traditional Accommodation in Andalusian Tourist Cities: Intensity, Density, and Potential Expansion Areas. Current Issues in Tourism, 25, 1782-1797. Go to original source...
    6. Croatian Ministry of tourism and sports, Tourism sustainability indicators as basis for new Croatian tourism Act (element 5),(2023), Ministarstvo turizma i sporta Republike Hrvatske, Ministarstvo znanosti i obrazovanja Republike Hrvatske, Institut za turizam, ®TSSA retrieved from: https://mint.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/2024_dokumenti/240130_npoo_dokum-indikat.pdf (accessed on 12 March 2024)
    7. Development plan of Zadarska county (2021-2027) (2020), , Zadarska County, retrieved from https://www.zadarska-zupanija.hr/images/dokumenti/planski_dokumenti/Plan_razvoja_Zadarske_%C5%BEupanije_2021.pdf (accessed on 17 March 2024)
    8. Development tourism plan of Istarska county from 2022-2027 (2021), AURORA Istrian regional coordinator, Istarska County, retrieved from https://www.istra-istria.hr/media/filer_public/f1/f9/f1f99026-7de8-432c-8cd6-781f5698ab27/240221_plan_razvoja_2022-2027.pdf (accessed on 18 March 2024)
    9. Development tourism plan of Primorsko-goranska county by 2030 (2022), Primorsko-goranska County, retrieved from http://www.kvarner.hr/docs/kvarner2011HR/documents/2652/1.0/Original.pdf (accessed on 18 March 2024)
    10. Development tourism plan of Dubrovačko-neretvanska county by 2027 (2021), Dubrovačko-neretvanska county, retrieved from https://dunea.hr/images/dokumenti/Plan_razvoja_DNZ_do_2027._FINAL.pdf (accessed on 15 March 2024)
    11. Dupeyras, A., & MacCallum, N. (2013). Indicators for Measuring Competitiveness in Tourism: A Guidance Document, OECD Tourism Papers, No. 2013/02, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5k47t9q2t923-en. Go to original source...
    12. European Comission, 2016, EC European tourism Indicator system (ETIS) toolkit for sustainable destination management, European Commisssion
    13. Global Sustainable Tourism Council - Destination Criteria, 2019, GSTC Destination criteria, Version 2.0 with Performance Indicators and SDGs available at www.gstcouncil.org
    14. Guidelines and instructions for creating Destination management plan (2024), Croatian Ministry of tourism and sports retrieved from: https://mint.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/2024_dokumenti/240927_pravni_smjernice.pdf (accessed on 18 march 2025).
    15. C J. Sustain. Tour. 26, 583-599.
    16. Marinello, S., Butturi, M. A., Gamberini, R., & Martini, U. (2023). Indicators for Sustainable Touristic Destinations: A Critical Review. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 66, 1-30. Go to original source...
    17. Master tourism development plan of Splitsko-dalmatinska county (2021-2027) with strategic and operational marketing plan (2018), Institute of tourism, Splitsko-dalmatinska County, retrieved from https://www.dalmatia.hr/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Glavni_plan_razvoja_turizma_SDZ.pdf (accessed on 16 March 2024)
    18. Matarazzo, A. (2022). Environmental Indicators to Improve Sustainable Tools in Tourism Sector. Paper presented at Tmrees International Conference on Technologies and Materials for Renewable Energy, Environment and Sustainability, TMREES21Gr 2021, Athens, Greece, May 28-30; p. 020056. Go to original source...
    19. Meadows, D. (1998) Indicators and Information Systems for SustainableDevelopment. A Report to the Balaton Group. Hartland Four Corners, USA: The Sustainability Institute.
    20. Milano, C., & Koens, K. (2022). The Paradox of Tourism Extremes. Excesses and Restraints in Times of COVID-19. Current Issues in Tourism, 25, 219-231. Go to original source...
    21. Miller, G., & Twinning-Ward, L., (2005). Monitoring for a sustainable tourism transition: the challenge of developing and using indicators. Wallingford: CABI publishing. Go to original source...
    22. Ruhanen, L,, Weiler, B., Moyle, B.D., & McLennan, C. J. (2015). Trends and Patterns in Sustainable Tourism Research: A 25-Year Bibliometric Analysis. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(4), 517-535. Go to original source...
    23. Rulebook on sustainable tourism development (2024), National gazette 112/2024, retrieved from: https://narodne-novine.nn.hr/eli/sluzbeni/2024/112/1891/pdf (accessed on 8 March 2024)
    24. https://podaci.dzs.hr/2024/hr/101483
    25. Scuttari, A., Windegger, F., Wallnofer, V., & Pechlaner, H. (2023). Bridging the Science-Policy Gap in Sustainable Tourism: Evidence from a Multiple Case Study Analysis of UNWTO INSTO Sustainable Tourism Observatories. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1-25. Go to original source...
    26. Satelitski račun turizam za Republiku Hrvatsku za 2022 godinu retrieved from https://podaci.dzs.hr/2024/hr/101483 (accessed on 29 March 2025)
    27. Thomas, G. (2019). Advantages and Disadvantages of Sustainable Development. Retrieved from:
    28. https://www.lorecentral.org/2018/07/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-sustainable-development.html (accessed on 10 March 2024)
    29. United Nations. International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008, Compilation Guide. 2016. Available online: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/seriesm/seriesm_83rev1e.pdf (accessed on March 26th, 2025)
    30. United Nations; World Tourism Organization. International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008; Studies in Methods; Series M; United Nations: New York, NY, USA, 2010; ISBN 978-92-1-161521-0.
    31. United Nations; World Tourism Organization, Commission of the European Countries; Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008; Studies in Methods; United Nations: New York, NY, USA, 2010; ISBN 978-92-1-161520-3.
    32. University of Cambridge. Climate Change: Implications for Tourism. (2014). Retrieved from: https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/business-action/low-carbon-transformation/ipcc-climate-science-business-briefings/pdfs/briefings/IPCC_AR5__Implications_for_Tourism__Briefing__WEB_EN.pdf (accessed on 7 March 2024).
    33. World Tourism Organization (2024) Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism available at: https://unstats.un.org/UNSDWebsite/statcom/session_55/documents/BG-4a-SF-MST-E.pdf
    34. World Tourism Organization (2004), Indicators of Sustainable Development for Tourism Destinations A Guidebook (English version) , UNWTO, Madrid, DOI: https://doi.org/10.18111/9789284407262 Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content