From Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, to the streets of Sal in the Cape Verde Islands or the once bustling Medina in Marrakech - the effects of the global travel restrictions are being felt everywhere. The economic consequences in holiday regions are enormous and are having a direct impact on the daily lives of local families. So, to provide rapid assistance and food security, the TUI Care Foundation is working with local partners to provide food, meals and toiletries for disadvantaged people. With the support of local volunteers and TUI colleagues on the ground, the aid has reached over 24,000 people. The initiative also involves TUI's local holiday infrastructure, with TUI colleagues, jeeps and buses all playing their part in distributing the aid packages.  

To maximise food distribution, the TUI Care Foundation is working with local organisations as much as possible. Some creative approaches have also been developed to make this happen. For example, the non-profit organisation Pikala Bikes in Morocco has quickly adapted its business model to help local people. The organisation usually offers tourists sustainable bicycle tours of Marrakesh and Agadir and provides disadvantaged young people with training and job prospects. But for the TUI Care Foundation Corona Relief activities, the bicycles and trailers are now used to transport food packages. This not only makes the sustainable supply of food in hard-to-reach areas possible, but also secures jobs at Pikala whilst tourism is at a standstill. 

And on the east coast of Egypt in Hurghada, a team of former TUI employees and local volunteers are helping to distribute food packages. Here, the food and hygiene products are delivered directly to the doorstep in TUI vehicles to help disadvantaged families.

In the holiday resort of Playa del Carmen on the east coast of Mexico, TUI employees and volunteers are working with local charities to provide the community with food and aid packages. The TUI Care Foundation has also created vocational training and educational opportunities to help disadvantaged local people to get back on their feet after the pandemic.

The island of Sal in Cape Verde has also been massively affected by the slump in tourism. The TUI Care Foundation and local charity CSD Foundation are helping on the ground with a large team of helpers from the local community and former TUI employees.

Another aid project was launched in Jamaica in cooperation with the Rockhouse Foundation. Volunteers from the RIU Hotel lent a hand on the days of packaging and distribution.

Projects in Spain will start in the next few weeks, for example in Mallorca and Tenerife - two tourist regions where people are also particularly affected by the travel restrictions and lack of tourism. 

The TUI Care Foundation has teamed up with

Pikala Bikes in Morocco
Rockhouse Foundation in Jamaica
SENSE FAM in Mallorca
CSD Foundation in Cape Verde
Emfasis in Greece
Banco de Alimentos de Tenerife in Tenerife
Lima Tours in Peru