Tourism has many positive influences, but also has meaningful negative influences on environment and it is necessary to reduce the mass tourism and all the disadvanteges that come with it. In Croatia tourism has been a major economic driver for years but it’s even more so in the recent past. Precisely for these reasons, it is necessary to align the planning of future development of tourism with respect principles of sustainable development. This type of tourism aims to reduce the negative impacts on the environment, educate travelers and employees, and lead to better relationships with the local community. This paper refers to the owners of holiday houses on Split-Dalmatia County. As well, paper analyses the linkage of rural tourism and sustainable development and provides an insight into the importance of rural tourism for the development of rural areas. One of the ways in how the private owners green their business is eco certification. On Split-Dalmatia County, eco certification Dalmatia Green has been developed, that wants to help owners to understand the importance of ecological managment. The study concluded that respondents are not familiar enough with sustainable tourism but are willing to do business in accordance with the principles of sustainable tourism. They agree that sustainable tourism increases profitability and positively affects the environment.