Phnom Penh: Cambodia is on the hunt for its “Best Tourism Villages”. The Ministry of Tourism has announced that three model villages will be selected to compete with other villages from around the world. The Director of the Department of International and ASEAN Cooperation in the Ministry of Tourism, Mr. Try Chhiv, says the selection also forms part of the country’s post-pandemic tourism rehabilitation roadmap.

The UN’s World Tourism Organization has launched its “Best Tourism Villages” initiative to identify those small towns taking innovative and transformative approaches to tourism in rural areas, in line with its Sustainable Development Goals. Secretary-General of the UN’s World Tourism Organization, Mr. Zurab Pololikashvili, says they want to recognize the uniqueness of each village and showcase the best initiatives making tourism a means for a better future in rural areas.

“A best tourism village is: a village with a vision of tourism as a tool of inclusive and sustainable development; a village with a great natural and cultural resources; a village committed to promoting and preserving its nature and culture; a village that values its gastronomy, its crafts and its people; a village working for the well-being of its residents and visitors.”

The Ministry of Tourism’s Mr. Try Chhiv says Cambodia will look at a total of 100 villages. The three winners will be named before the end of next month and will focus on community tourism, ecotourism and island tourism. Chhiv has also added that this competition will provide opportunities for villages with the most tourism potential to be developed into attractive tourist destinations that will be known around the world.