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Dynamic business environment requires publishing accurate and reliable information about company business performance. In this context company financial reporting becomes standard, obligatory and important company communication channel. Publishing company performance information is not for the interest of investors only, but it is because of the interest for customers as well. In present business environment, growing interest for environmental protection and sustainable development, the financial reporting framework becomes insufficient. Information related with social and environmental aspects of business grows in importance not only for employees and local community but for investors and customers as well. Tourism industry highly prioritises environmental protection issues and sustainable development as factors of highest importance for sustainable destination management. In this context non-financial reporting was voluntary for many years, but now non-financial reporting becomes not only important market issue but becomes obligatory, and standards for non-financial reporting are still developing. The primary objective of this study was to identify the level of existing experience and readiness of hotel companies in Croatia to report on sustainable reporting and sustainable business.

Sustainability reporting is increasingly becoming an integral part of business reports. It encompasses reporting on environmental-, social-, and employee-related matters, as well as reporting on human rights, anti-corruption, and bribery issues. Implementing the stated principles requires knowledge and poses a challenge for managers.

Reporting on corporate social, environmental and economic responsibility has broadened widely within the last decade. The European Union is the most active region in the world in terms of sustainability reporting, largely on a voluntary basis. Most of the empirical research related to sustainability reporting in Europe has been conducted in Western European countries. In Central and Eastern Europe, only a small number of studies have focused on sustainability reporting. Little, however, is known whether how and why companies in CEE report about their corporate sustainable activities. The aim of the research project is to describe the status quo of SR in CEE, to explain some noteworthy differences between the two subsamples CEE and WE and to predict the future development of SR in the CEE region. To address this research issue, we have established a research consortium with researchers from ten Central and Eastern European Countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Two Western European countries, Germany and Austria, have been added to the sample to enable a regional comparison.