Project Aims
This project, a TUI Care Foundation initiative delivered by the Travel Foundation, is helping rural, small-scale producers in south-west Turkey to benefit from tourism. The aim is to improve the livelihoods of farmers and small-scale producers in the Muğla region by facilitating the local supply of traditional ingredients and delicacies to hotels, restaurants and gift shops.
The area is famous for its honey, olives, citrus fruit, almonds, herbs, pomegranates and fresh vegetables. Traditional delicacies made from this fresh produce, such as oils, vinegars and jams, will be bought by hotels for their kitchens and gift shops.
We are supporting local producers to develop a range of goods that appeal to hotels and customers, and we encouraging hotels to buy locally, and promote local products to their customers.
As tourism returns to coastal areas following the pandemic, this initiative will help spread the benefits inland, enabling small businesses to tap into the tourism supply chain.
Adding Value
Muğla is a predominantly rural area, and small-scale growers struggle to maintain farming as a sustainable livelihood. Most produce is sold directly to local markets, traders and wholesalers at a fairly low price.
The farmers and village communities cannot always create opportunities to process the raw ingredients to add value to them, for example by turning olives into (more expensive) olive oil, or table olives, with suitable packaging and branding.
Local producers are also not well placed to supply businesses in the tourism sector, which instead typically use large-scale wholesalers and distributors that source goods from much further afield (including importing).
