Deadline: 23-May-23
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is accepting applications for the Best Tourism Villages Programme to promote and enhance the role of tourism in valuing and safeguarding rural villages along with their associated landscapes, knowledge systems, biological and cultural diversity, local values and activities (agriculture, forestry, livestock and/or fisheries), including their gastronomy.
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.
Objectives
- Reduce regional inequalities in income and development.
- Fight rural depopulation.
- Progress gender equality and women’s and youth empowerment.
- Enhance education and skills development.
Benefits
- The villages recognized as Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO will benefit from international recognition as an outstanding example of a rural tourism destination and visibility, such as showcase in the Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO initiative website They will also receive a diploma and/or plate signed by the UNWTO Secretary-General.
- The villages included in the Upgrade Programme will receive support from UNWTO and Partners to improve elements of the areas identified as gaps in the evaluation process.
- Villages recognized as Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO and those selected to participate in the Upgrade Programme will become members of the Network.
- The BTV Network is a space for exchanging experiences and good practices, learning, and opportunities among its members, and it is open to contributions of experts and public and private sector partners engaged in the promotion of tourism as a driver for rural development.
- Villages in the Network can also benefit from being included as case studies in UNWTO policy documents, guidelines, participating in rural development and tourism related events…
- The Network will be enlarged every year with new villages in next editions of the initiative and aims at becoming the largest international network on rural tourism.
- Do the villages recognized as Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO receive financial compensation?
- No financial compensation is given in connection with the initiative.
Components
- The initiative has three main components:
- The Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO, which aims to recognize a village which is an outstanding example of a rural tourism destination with recognized cultural and natural assets, that preserves and promotes rural and community based values, products and lifestyle and has a clear commitment to sustainability in all its aspects – economic, social and environmental – with the fundamental aim of making tourism one of the drivers of rural development and community well-being.
- The Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO Upgrade Programme, which will benefit a number of villages selected among those that do not fully meet the initiative criteria. These villages will receive support from UNWTO and Partners to improve elements of the areas identified as gaps in the evaluation process.
- The Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO Network, a space for exchanging experiences and good practices, learnings, and opportunities. The Network will also support the work of UNWTO in identifying good practices, developing guidelines and policy recommendations as well as insights and knowledge.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Call for Applications is open to all UNWTO Member States Candidacies are not open for individual application by villages and must always be presented by a UNWTO Member State through the National Tourism Administration.
- The Call for Applications is open to all UNWTO Member States 5 (hereinafter referred to as “Member” or “Members”). Applications are not open for individual application by villages and must always be presented by a Member.
- In line with the UNWTO definition of Rural Tourism7 approved by the 22nd General Assembly in 2017 (A/RES/684 (XXII)), Members can present candidacies of villages with the following characteristics:
- Low population and a maximum of 15.000 inhabitants (for the purpose of this requisite, the village will need to submit the population census for the latest year available)
- Be located in a landscape with an important presence of traditional activities such as agriculture, forestry, livestock or fishing; and
- Share community values and lifestyle.
- For the purpose of this initiative, neighbourhoods within a larger village or municipality cannot apply.
- In order to streamline the evaluation process, a limitation on the total number of candidate villages per country has been set up. Therefore, each Member can submit a maximum of eight applications per edition.
- Members wishing to submit their applications must dully fill in and submit the Online Application Form by the deadline indicated in each edition. No other form of applications will be considered. Applications that are incomplete or received after the deadline will not be considered.
- Whenever a Member needs to be contacted in connection with the evaluation process, the contact information provided by the Member in the application form will be used. UNWTO is not responsible for incomplete or incorrect contact information provided.
- The information included in the candidacy is the full responsibility of the Members and must be true. UNWTO shall not be liable for any false, inaccurate, obsolete, incomplete or erroneous data submitted by the candidates. In such a case, the participant shall be automatically excluded from the evaluation process, and also lose the right to the enjoyment of the benefits and shall not be entitled to make any claims against UNWTO.
- UNWTO reserves the right not to accept or to remove from the initiative, without prior notice, any candidates who act fraudulently, in an abusive manner, or in a manner contrary to the spirit of the initiative, the principles of the UNWTO, the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism or the United Nations or the applicable law, third-party rights and/or good faith. Likewise, any participant or related person whose action may be contrary to the reputation or good name of the UNWTO or the United Nations will be removed.
- Each application shall include the contact details of the person responsible for the application at the UNWTO Member State for the purposes of all communications with UNWTO regarding the application(s). This person must be a natural person, of legal age and with legal capacity to enter into a contract, not having been convicted by a final judgment, for intentional crimes, with a penalty of six months or more, insofar as the criminal responsibility has not expired.
- The person responsible for the application who, initially or at any point during the initiative, fails to meet any of these requirements, may be excluded, losing any option to receive any service and without the right to claim anything from the UNWTO.
- The participating Members shall commit to actively engage with the villages recognized as Best Tourism Villages and those selected to participate in the Upgrade Programme within the Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO Network and in the activities pertaining to this initiative (e.g. attending relevant meetings and events, sharing information and good practices and joining training, capacity building and other related activities).
- The participating Members shall also commit to coordinate and ensure the participation of the villages recognized as Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO in the announcement ceremony and other relevant events organized by the Secretariat.
- None of the actions shall entitle any candidate or potential candidate to any right or claim whatsoever for damages, expenses incurred, etc.
Areas of Evaluation
- Applications will be evaluated by an independent advisory board through a set of indicators covering the following areas:
- Cultural and Natural Resources
- Promotion and Conservation of Cultural Resources
- Economic Sustainability
- Social Sustainability
- Environmental Sustainability
- Tourism Development and Value Chain Integration
- Governance and Prioritization of Tourism
- Infrastructure and Connectivity
- Health, Safety and Security
For more information, visit Best Tourism Villages.