Flavours of Malaga: housewives hold key to economic development

Berlin, 5 November 2018. In Malaga’s neighbourhoods of Trinidad and Perchel, unemployment rates are high and opportunities for decent education are low - especially among women. However, it is those women, who hold the recipe for sustainable economic development in their community, and TUI Care Foundation has stepped into the kitchen with them. Through the project around 70 women living across 40 different traditional communal living spaces in the neighbourhoods will be empowered to develop sound business models around gastronomic heritage tourism, harnessing its rising popularity in Malaga. The project “Flavours of Malaga” aims to enhance the sustainable economic development of a community in which 60 per cent classify as low-income households.   

Elise Allart, Executive Director of the TUI Care Foundation, explains: “Through the TUI Cares for Malaga programme we empower women by boosting their capacity to develop heritage-based business models, through which not only these women and their families, but the local community and economy are stimulated in a participatory and sustainable way.“

“Flavours of Malaga”, a project within the scope of the TUI Care Foundation’s livelihoods programme, will focus on socio-economic empowerment and inclusive development in the segregated neighbourhoods crossing the Guadalmedina River. The epicentre is in the so-called corralones, traditional working-class apartment blocks clustered around a central courtyard. These popular courtyards were once the place where families would come together for food, music, drinks and laughs after a hard working-day; now they are opening their doors and sharing their culture with visitors from all over the world.

The female entrepreneurs are keeping the unique flavours of Malaga alive in their gazpachuelos, a soup that was once a cheap lunch for poor fishermen but is now a gourmet delight, Arabic-inspired desserts, which reflect seven centuries of Muslim rule, and many more delicious dishes. As more and more tourists visit the city every year, gastronomy becomes an increasingly important element of their experience, and so does the potential locked in the corralones. TUI Care Foundation is now working with local and international partners to unlock it.   

For this project the TUI Care Foundation partners with the Saxion University of Applied Sciences, the locally based Club Gastronómico Kilómetro Cero and the Municipality of Malaga. Students of the Saxion University will contribute their academic experience in sustainable development. Kilómetro Cero, on the other hand, will develop seminars to promote these gastronomic districts among stakeholders, as well as conduct training workshops with female entrepreneurs to help them market their products and identify opportunities to add more value. TUI Care Foundation supports all parts of the process, providing funding, encouraging capacity building, bringing in tourism expertise and raising awareness among visitors from all over the world.

Visitors will stimulate the economic impact by booking excursions to the corralones, where they will experience unique traditional Malaga first hand and/ have the opportunity to participate in cooking workshops and excursions to the local market; all of this organized by the local female entrepreneurs.  

Raúl Jiménez Jiménez, Town Councillor of Social Affairs of Malaga, explains: “Flavours of Malaga combines the empowerment of women from this neighbourhood with sustainable tourism. This is the first project of this kind here; we trust it can be an example for a further roll out throughout Malaga.”

By engaging in the holistic project, local women will be able to improve their socio-economic position and will also boost the area’s livelihoods by advancing their entrepreneurial and leadership skills.  

About TUI Care Foundation

Building on the potential of tourism as a force for good, the TUI Care Foundation supports and initiates partnerships and projects, which create new opportunities for the young generation and contribute to thriving destinations all over the world. Connecting holidaymakers to good causes, the TUI Care Foundation fosters education and training initiatives to open up new opportunities and perspectives for young people, the protection of the natural environment in holiday destinations and sustainable livelihoods in thriving destinations where local communities can benefit even more from tourism. TUI Care Foundation works global and acts local - it builds on strong partnerships with local and international organisations to create meaningful and long lasting impact. The charitable foundation values transparency and the efficient use of funds. Therefore, 100% of the donations go to partners and projects with all operating costs of the foundation covered by TUI. TUI Care Foundation was founded by TUI, the world’s leading tourism business, and is based in the Netherlands.

Further information is available at www.tuigroup.com.

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