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Introduction Since environment is an essential part of tourism industry (Batra & Kaur, 1996; Van Rheede, 2012), environmental awareness has increased not only for tourism industry (Anderec, 2009) but also for general public (Constantin, Ispas, & Candrea, 2013) and tourists (Millar, Mayer, & Baloglu, 2012) in late twentieth century. As a result of this increasing importance of environmental sensitiveness, hotel industry now recognizes need to adapt sustainable business practices such ecolabelling or environmental management systems (EMS) (Chan & Hawkins, 2012; Robinot & Giannellloni, 2010), which is becoming more common internationally (Fairweather, Maslin, & Simmons, 2005). Even attention to ecological issues has been gaining increasing momentum within both business and academic communities since early 1970s, when first worrying signs about environment began to appear (Leonidou, Leonidou, Fotiadis, & Zeriti, 2013, p.94), introduction of eco-labelling systems and their application in tourism industry as one of most effective tools to achieve sustainable development (Chen & Hawkins, 2010, p.642), began in early 1990s (Kozak & Nield, 2004). Developing and implementing more sustainable practices in hotel sector requires availability of reliable tools for assessment and benchmarking of hotel environmental performance (Bohdanowichz, Simanic, & Martinac, 2005). Consequently, certification programs, a significant strategy, are necessary to encourage sustainable production of goods and services (Medina, 2005) in hotel industry. Since national destination management organization, environmental groups, tourism boards, tourists, and others focused on sustainability, initiatives has began to form, assess, and standardize sustainable tourism practices and to create certification programs (Bowman, 2011). Since many countries and regions have developed their own evaluation standard for eco-friendly (Tseng & Kuo, 2013, p.248), different eco labels and sustainability standards are available in implementation of standards in hotel industry. The most commonly adopted certified Management Systems are Sector Specific, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 (Rodriguez-Anton, Alonso-Almeida, Celemin, & Rubio, 2012). Turkish tourism decision maker has started a national environmentally friendly tourism establishment's certification scheme since September 2009 (www.kulturturizm.gov.tr) the government initiative has an impact on certain aspects of hoteliers' attitudes and actions (Bohdanowic, 2006) and ecotourism certification is important in destination branding (Bowman, 2011). The scheme is based on a point system including variety of measures for different kinds of tourism accommodation establishments such hotels and holiday villages. It assesses energy, water, and chemical consumption, well environmental management, social commitment, solid waste management, landscape, and built environment. By reviewing theoretical and empirical studies, Dolnicar, Crouch, and Long (2008) stated that little is known about environment-friendly tourists that jeopardises quality of cumulative knowledge on this critical issue. Furthermore, there is a little empirical research examining customers' perception of environmentally friendly programs (Kim, Palakurthi, & Hancer, 2012). In this regard, this article aims to fill this gap by examining tourists' perception of green practices in eco-friendly hotels referring to lodging establishments that follow various green practices such water conservation, energy efficiency, and waste reduction and certified by Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) eco-friendly hotels. In this regards, article brings new findings in terms of providing comparison of theoretical approaches and practical criteria for eco-friendly hotel practices in addition to exploring tourists' evaluation of green practices that are adopted by tourism authorities in environmentally friendly hotels in case of Turkey. …
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