Our Taste of Fethiye project tackled one of the most challenging aspects of destination sustainability: how to integrate small, local producers into a large, mainstream tourism supply chain.

The project began in 2010, and by 2015 it had achieved some excellent results, including:

• Farmers taking part in the project increased their revenue by approximately 24%
• In 2015, 16 hotels sourced 70-85% (on average) of their entire fresh fruit and vegetable requirements from Taste of Fethiye (437 tonnes).
• Approximately 200,000 tourists had enjoyed Taste of Fethiye produce

Three years on

We went back to Fethiye last year to see how the project was faring, and were pleased to see it continuing to prosper, thanks to local NGO FETAV and two local wholesalers:

• In the three years since the project ended, a further 1,000 tonnes of local fruit and vegetables have been sold to hotels and served to tourists.
• Furthermore, in 2018 hotels were still serving this fresh produce to tourists, with 15 hotels (including three new clients) buying Taste of Fethiye produce.

Taste of Fethiye highlights the Travel Foundation’s strategy of capacity-building, as part of sustainable tourism projects, to ensure they continue to bring benefits to destinations in the long-term.