Tskaltubo is located 7 km from Kutaisi, the second largest city of Georgia. During the Soviet era Tskaltubo was an internationally popular spa, operating 22 large-scale sanatoriums and serving 100’000 visitors per year. This tourism industry decreased tremendously and nearly disappeared when the Soviet Union was dissolved, resulting in high levels of unemployment and dereliction of the architecture. During the independence conflict in Abkhazia in 1994 around 10’000 refugees were housed in the former hotels and around half of them have remained there to this day.

Several attempts have been made to revive the town. Investors have started buying up the old hotels and large-scale regeneration and conversion projects are in the pipeline. The refugees who have been living in makeshift accommodation for years will most likely have to give way to this development unless they can be integrated into it. This is where Cuisine sans frontières comes in.

Csf offers basic hospitality training courses in Tskaltubo during the off-season. Young refugees are eligible for this 16-week course focusing on cooking and waitressing. The owners of Tskaltubo Spa Resorts were the first to realise the potential of a revived Tskaltubo. The hotel’s infrastructure is ideal for the courses with ample space and a fully fitted kitchen.

All stakeholders in Tskaltubo can profit from this progress. The refugees are given a better start to the burgeoning job market and the new tourism sector gains access to a locally trained labour force.