This August I visited some of the producers who are involved in our Flavours from the Fields project which launched in April. Our aim with this project, funded by the TUI Care Foundation, is to help rural, small-scale producers in the Muğla region of south-west Turkey benefit from tourism by facilitating the supply of traditional products to hotels, restaurants and gift shops.
I was joined by our destinations programme officer, Arnau Teixidor, to see the production processes of local ingredients and delicacies first hand. These locally sourced and processed products have great regional provenance and showcase the best of the Mugla region.
Connecting producers to the tourism industry
Since its launch in we have successfully connected seven local producers with 19 tourism businesses (15 hotels) to supply their products. In the first three months of the project 150 orders have been placed, leading to the sale of 5.1 tonnes of olive oil, 3.2 tonnes of pine honey, 2.9 tonnes of jam and over 5,000 gift packs of local dried fruits, which have been enjoyed by up to 100,000 tourists.
The current product portfolio includes olives, honey and assorted fruits from seven producers across the region (some of these products can be ordered online):
- Olives: olive oils from Labranda and Beçin (Milas); table olives from Yavuzlar (Fethiye)
- Apiculture: pine honey and honeycombs from Karabörtlen Cooperative (Ula)
- Fruits: variety of jams from Ayaz Bey (Fethiye & Seydikemer); dried fruits from Maki Bahçe (Fethiye & Seydikemer) and Pronatural (Köyceğiz)