The paper presents an analysis of the existing legal framework in the field of tourism for the identification of the most advanced (in terms of environmental conservation) legal acts, which could serve as a prototype for the development of a regional system of eco-labeling in the tourist business. It has been revealed that the “Leaf of Life” program created by NP “St. Petersburg Ecological Union” in 2001, today is the only Russian eco-labeling, which is recognized by the international environmental community.The “Leaf of Life” distinctive features making it different from other similar eco-standards are more stringent requirements (limits) on the level of consumption of basic resources and the generation of waste, the introduction of scoring for assessing efficiency of innovation implementing, and division of hotels into three classes according to the accumulated score.It is proposed to use a system of “Leaf of Life” eco-labeling of hotels as the basis for the development of a regional system of voluntary certification of hotels of Krasnodar region. As a result of empirical research conducted by personal interview, we have estimated readiness of potential consumers to use different eco-hotel services and the possibilities to use eco-labeling as a market mechanism to stimulate the diffusion of environmental management systems into the hotel business.