He believes that staff training is an essential part of embedding sustainability into a business, not only helping with their own operations, but also helping to ensure staff really care about the issues and take this empathy and knowledge home with them, ultimately passing it onto friends and family, creating a positive snowball effect. He feels that once a hotel has an engaged and educated workforce, the other sustainability challenges they face become easier.

Mustafa sees first-hand the challenges the tourism sector faces in keeping staff training current, namely due to the seasonal nature of the industry that sees staff working elsewhere over winter along with higher turnovers, but also due to the impacts of the pandemic. He suggests that businesses need to innovate in this area by embracing new technology and trends. For example, many businesses have successfully adapted advertising so that they deliver core messages about their products on marketing channels such as YouTube and Instagram via use of 10–15-second videos or small yet high-impact graphics. He suggests that businesses consider the same approach for delivering core sustainability messages to staff versus the traditional long lecture-style sessions.

Mustafa has been encouraged by the innovation and willingness to adopt new technologies he has seen during Travelife audits. For example, mobile apps are now commonly used to communicate with guests, something that was far less common prior to the pandemic. These are used to provide guests with information about activities, to collect feedback, promote the local area and to share sustainability information. This reduces paper and ink usage, is more hygienic and makes it easier to push information out to guests in real time.

Another example of using technology to improve environmental impacts is hotels that use automated systems to control heating, cooling and ventilation. The technical team is able to manage energy throughout the property from a central point, enabling a staff member to adjust things like the temperature in all guest rooms as the outdoor temperature changes. This makes it far easier for the hotel to conserve energy and therefore reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Mustafa tells us about a recent audit at Tui Blue Palm Garden Hotel in Manavgat where a number of innovations have been employed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These include recycling heat from outdoor refrigeration units for use in water heating, along with the installation of 300 solar panels that also heat the property’s water.