Interdependence of Sustainability Factors in Tourism in the Context of Sustainability Reporting

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to determine the interdependence of factors that affect sustainability in the EU Mediterranean tourist countries with regards to priorities and requirements for tourism businesses in the context of sustainable reporting, improving the economic conditions and quality of life of the local residents and, respectively, sustainable tourism development. Methodology – On a sample of 9 countries, 16 essential Eurostat parameters of sustainability and quality of life in tourist countries were connected using method of hierarchical clustering or dendrograms to create a model for analyzing their interdependence. Findings – The main cluster that connects the share of Tourism in GDP and Share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption is dependent on two other large clusters. In the first are Share of people with good or very good perceived health and Gender employment gap, People at risk of poverty or social exclusion and General government gross debt. The second cluster consists of Circular material use rate which depends on Gross domestic expenditure on R&D by sector and Recycling rate of municipal waste. Contribution – The scientific contribution of the paper is manifested in an innovative approach to the observation of important factors that affect the sustainable development of tourist countries in order to achieve the quality goals of reporting by tourism businesses, and in order to ensure the essential assumptions of the quality of life of the local population in these countries.