Anastasia Mexa

Travelife Approved global auditor

Meet Anastasia Mexa, of Greek origin from the beautiful island of Corfu, based in Cyprus, who is one of approximately 60 Travelife for Accommodation Approved global auditors, thus visits properties to conduct an audit against the Travelife Standard. Those that meet the standard receive a Travelife Certification, showing their commitment to responsible tourism. Travelife for Accommodation is an internationally recognised accommodation sustainability programme that works with leading UK and European tour operator members to promote Travelife certified Members. In over 50 countries it has around 1,500 members who use Travelife’s practical tools and resources to improve their business’s environmental, economic and social

impact. Containing a range of criteria that assess accommodation performance in the areas of human rights, labour, community engagement and environmental impacts, Travelife for Accommodation is a GSTC recognized standard. She has undergone an intensive training programme in order to audit with the company and must complete annual refresher courses to maintain standards. The multi lingual mother of two, specialises in sustainability, health and safety and food safety and hygiene. Anastasia has worked in the hotel sector for more than 20 years, experiencing first-hand how travel trends and hotel operations have changed over the years, namely the need to adopt more sustainable practices. Especially in Cyprus where the country relies on tourism, and therefore needs to be preserved for longevity. After studying labour and human rights in Corfu, Anastasia started her hotel career in 2000 when she moved to Cyprus and worked as a quality coordinator for a 5-star hotel. This led to a greater understanding of the various standards hotels should be meeting across health and safety, quality control and environmental management. She qualified as an internal auditor for various ISO standards in these fields and eventually trained as a lead ISO standards auditor, while is also an approved adults vocational trained by the Cyprus Human Resources Development Authority. A few years ago she also obtained her Hotel Management Diploma which sealed her education in the field. She says the first step is to identify all areas and practices to be improved, remembering that sustainability is not only energy, water and waste management. Do not forget your people, your stakeholders, labour and human rights, animal welfare and community integration. The next step is to set your sustainability vision and policy, then integrating this into all of your business planning by setting SMART sustainability goals, with progress being regularly monitored and evaluated. However, she believes that commitment and passion are the two most important factors. That means committing to achieving your goals and engaging your staff and other stakeholders, such as guests, so that they become passionate advocates of all your business is trying to achieve.

Her final piece of advice is for businesses to look beyond all the paperwork and consider the Travelife for Accommodation audit process as an opportunity for further improvement, viewing their auditor as a stakeholder who shares the same vision as they do. When I saw that Travelife Accommodation was looking for new auditors I did not hesitate... it was another chance to promote sustainability and to help create a world where every human has access to basic resources, that are managed so they never run out, all whilst helping boost economic wellbeing.” I am in love with our planet and mother Earth and everything we are being provided. We are blessed and we need to treat Earth as we treat our children. We should always remember as an old Indian proverb sais that we haven’t inherited the Earth from our ancestors, we have just borrowed it from our children… I love assisting businesses in their sustainability journey and I feel proud watching them grow while sustainability is amongst their main strategic targets. People’s culture might be the greatest challenge beyond conflicting legislative requirements and lack of infrastructure, however I can see our youngsters being more and more sensitive and businesses adopting further sustainability in their day to day operations. Sustainability is also part of my day to day role which apart from my job, includes my own family, the raising of 2 boys who are ready to explore life through their uni studies, looking after 17 cats, 3 tortoises until they are strong to be back in the nature, participating in many charitable events. I must admit I am blessed and never thought I’d be so fulfilled in my life. 19