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Leonardo da Vinci programme
Promoting Monchique
It’s one of the nature tourism havens of the Algarve, but Monchique is not without its problems. There’s the threat of open-cast mining to southern hillsides – and the fact that marketing, according to tourism coordinators, is “pretty piecemeal and uncoordinated”. Monchique needs “new energy” – and this arrived a couple of months ago thanks to the EU-funded Leonardo da Vinci Programme. Fourteen volunteers aged between 18-45 have moved into the mountain town. Most of them had never heard of Monchique before they got here. They include designers, illustrators, carpenters, social enterprise project workers and university graduates. We spoke to three of the participants, Julia Harriman, Nicola Dillon and Fee Schmidt-Soltau, six weeks into the 13-week project.
Natasha Donn, Edition 705 (24 Nov 2011), 
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So what are Monchique’s problems?
Julia Harriman: Tourists can’t find out about it. There’s a council website – but it’s all in Portuguese; and there’s a tourist office – but it only has things about the Algarve, not Monchique.
Tourists arrive here on buses from Portimão; they wander around the back streets for a while, and soon they’re bored – yet there are so many things happening here! So we decided what we needed to do was build resources for tourists so that they can enjoy the alternative experience here. Ideally, if we could encourage people to stay in Monchique for a week, it would help all the local businesses and boost the local economy.
13 weeks isn’t a long time to make major changes. What have you managed so far?
Julia Harriman: You’re right. Ideally this project should have been a lot longer, and then we could really have made some changes. But considering the time limit, we decided the best thing we could do was come up with a map showing people all the places where they can eat and sleep, and enjoy eco-friendly activities.
The map will be given to all the local businesses, so that they can hand it out to visitors, and it will be on PDF form on a website we’re hoping to set up. We’re launching the map during a week long open-studio event above the Internet café in the town centre. It will be a way of showing everything we’ve done to help promote sustainable tourism. It’s part of what we’re calling “The Alternative Tourist Office”, and we hope all local businesses come along and get involved.
Almost none of you knew Monchique before you came here. Has the experience changed you at all?
Nicola Dillon: It’s been really transformational. Before I came here, I’d been running my own design company in London. Now, I have to say, I’ve got the travel bug. I’m looking at projects I might be able to get involved with in Africa next…
Julia Harriman: This place has changed us all. Quite a few of the others could easily see themselves coming back here, if there was the work. I would love it myself. It’s a very special, unknown corner.
Fee Schmidt-Soltau: Working with local businesses - designing marketing materials, walking maps or helping with business planning - has really helped me to figure out what kind of design I want to do.
If there had been more time, what would you have done here?
Julia Harriman: What we initially planned was a festival bringing together all the businesses involved in sustainable eco-based tourism. That would have been ideal – but there simply wasn’t the time.
And how have the local people accepted you?
Julia Harriman: Very well, really. I think there’s the feeling that a lot of money went into this project that could have been put to more constructive use – that’s why we’ve taken the responsibility we have here very seriously. We want to give something back to this place, and create some good for the community. We’re still hoping to work with local producers and help them repackage their products in a more attractive way.
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