Application of a green economy concept in the tourism industry

The concept of „green economy” was developed in the 1980s as means that can help countries and human society at whole on the way of the sustainable development achievement. The green economy is the economy affecting the improvement of human well-being and social equity and which reduces the risks for the environment. The purpose of this study is to point out to the importance of the concept of green economy in economic and non-economic activities in the modern world environment. Special emphasis is placed on exploring the role and importance of the practical application of green economy in the tourism industry. Methods of analysis and synthesis, inductive and deductive methods, descriptive methods, as well as the comparative method and the method of benchmarking will be applied in the treatment of the subject matter. The main objective of this paper is to show and prove that in the modern tourist business it is necessary to apply the concept of green economy and the concept of sustainable development as a whole. In this sense, the paper especially analyzed sustainable tourism development and ecotourism as an important segment of sustainable tourism. Ecotourism is ecological responsible tourist traveling for the stay and enjoyment in the nature, into relatively protected places. As a result of sustainable, green economy concept application, ecotourism has important positive contributions to the environmental, social, cultural and economic well-being of local communities and tourist eco-destinations all over the world