The tourist villages of Breb in Maramureș County and Polovragi in Gorj County have been included in the Upgrade Program of the international competition Best Tourism Villages – 2024.
The results were announced during the Executive Council of UN Tourism, held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, as reported by the Romanian Ministry of Tourism.
Best Tourism Villages is a global initiative by UN Tourism, created to identify outstanding examples of rural destinations in the organization's member states that leverage and preserve cultural and natural heritage.
In this edition, the Ministry of Tourism supported Romania's participation by submitting proposals for six tourist villages:
- Jurilovca (Tulcea County),
- Vânători-Neamț (Neamț County),
- Breb (Maramureș County), destinations selected in the national competition in 2024
- Polovragi (Gorj County),
- Eibenthal (Mehedinți County),
- Gura Siriului (Buzău County), selected the previous year.
The UN Tourism Upgrade Program provides support to the selected villages for the development and improvement of identified less developed areas, thereby enhancing their competitiveness in the international tourism market.
These rural destinations will be able to reapply for the title of Best Tourism Village through a simplified procedure, also being integrated into the global network of Best Tourism Villages, which facilitates the exchange of information, experiences, and best practices.
The selection process considered criteria related to cultural and natural resources, promotion and conservation of cultural resources, economic, social, and environmental sustainability, tourism development and value chain integration, tourism governance and prioritization, infrastructure and connectivity, health, safety, and security, and presentation materials (videos, images).
In the same competition, the following rural destinations from Romania were also selected: Rășinari (Sibiu County), designated "Best Tourism Village" in 2022, and Ciocănești (Suceava County), which participated in the Upgrade Program in 2023.
