The thesis is a supplementary work for a business plan of a youth hostel in Central America. The paper’s core objective is to investigate consumer attitudes toward a sustainable tourism and whether a green certification can be a competitive advantage.

For an empirical research data was collected through a questionnaire handed out to 182 respondents on Lappeenranta university campus. It was later analyzed using IBM Statistics software. The results defined a further research direction, so a quality assessment was made to evaluate an existing eco labels supply. Results of this investigation revealed that existing certification programs in mass are oversimplified and generalized. Therefore, concluding part of the present thesis describes possible solutions from a business owner and manager prospective.