The Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterráneo, Mercacórdoba (Mercados Centrales de Abastecimiento de Córdoba), CIMBAL (Comunidade Intermunicipal do Baixo Alentejo) and NERBE/AEBAL (Associação Empresarial do Baixo Alentejo e Litoral) have launched the project 'Halal Market: resilience of markets to new tourism trends', a project framed within the INTERREG VA Spain-Portugal cooperation programme (POCTEP 2014-2020).
This initiative, led by Tres Culturas, aims to generate competitive advantages for the products and services of different companies from Andalusia, Algarve and Alentejo, by adapting them to the criteria defined as 'Muslim friendly', favouring the attractiveness of our hospitality offerings and increasing exports. This type of action is particularly opportune at times like these, given that the consequences of the COVID 19 pandemic make it very necessary to find new market niches for tourism, the hotel and catering industry and the food industry.
The project partners have already held several meetings (a photo of one of them, held virtually a few days ago, is attached) and have already defined several of the initial steps of this project, such as the creation of a common image or the preparation of a kick-off meeting after the summer in Seville.
In addition to this meeting, the project foresees numerous actions both in Andalusia and in the Algarve and Alentejo until the end of 2022, including business forums, tourist micro-routes to get to know and promote SMEs throughout the programme's area of action, and the development of a platform to promote the sale of products online and the development of halal business services, among other activities.
The aim of these proposals is to achieve three specific objectives: the adaptation of supply in the strategic sectors of tourism, commerce, crafts, services and the hotel and catering industry to the halal market; the promotion of the adaptation of products and services with export potential and which generate new jobs; and the strengthening of business cooperation mechanisms and public entities aimed at SMEs and micro-SMEs as a means of sustainable economic promotion.
Special emphasis will also be placed on reaching out to a new demand sector in the halal market, shaped around millennial Muslim tourists (TMMs), who, in terms of the annual report Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel IndexThe halal industry is a driving force in the halal industry.
Four institutions involved in the project
The Halal Market project brings together the experience of four institutions, the heads of which stress the importance of this type of initiative. Thus, José Manuel Cervera, director of the Three Cultures Foundation, remarked that "with this project, which we will reactivate in person just after the opening of the borders between Spain and Portugal, our foundation reinforces its work of cooperation between Andalusia-Algarve-Alentejo. And it does so in a strategic sector for the three regions, such as tourism and exports. This cooperation is led by local agents and business organisations, since the objective is precisely local development, exploiting endogenous resources in an innovative way. Moreover, this project will once again highlight the role of culture in the creation of wealth and employment and the strengthening and modernisation of our productive fabric".
For his part, Antonio Álvarez, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mercacórdoba, stresses that "the halal market is an excellent opportunity for the production, tourism and commercial companies of our regions, being a market with which we are especially rooted due to our history and our culture. In this sense, our project makes it easier for SMEs and micro-SMEs to comply with the standards of quality and respect for diversity that a halal product or service represents".
Filipe Pombeiro, president of NERBE/AEBAL (Business Association of Baixo Alentejo and Litoral), considers that "if before the COVID-19 pandemic we were already aware of the importance of raising awareness among SMEs about compliance with the standards required for halal products and services for the development of tourism in these territories, after the pandemic was decreed and with all the restrictions it has entailed in the field of movement, distancing and hygiene, this awareness has become even more urgent and necessary. With the resumption of economic activity, which will take place more slowly than desirable, it is absolutely important to attract new tourists and visitors to our regions, bearing in mind also that the Muslim market presents itself as an excellent opportunity. We also believe that the range of partners brought together for this project will represent an added value for the support and business development needed to meet current needs.
In conclusion, Jorge Rosa, president of Cimbal (Intermunicipal Community of Baixo Alentejo), considers that this joint project Halal Market "is a very important initiative, particularly at the time in which we live, when all cultural, commercial and even social activities are very conditioned. It will be necessary to reinvent and implement renewed dynamics to revive the economy and culture. We assume part of this responsibility, creating mechanisms that support, backed by history and culture, the local and regional economy, boosting exports and external relations. This is something that can make a difference for many micro and small businesses in our territory, namely those linked to tourism. This is the genesis of our municipal and inter-municipal work, working in an extended partnership, improving the benefits in our territory".
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