The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has added the village of Birgi in the Turkish province of Izmir to its list of top tourist villages for 2022.
Earlier in 2012, Birgi was also included in the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List.
Nominees for the Best Tourist Village category were judged on nine criteria, including cultural and natural resources, protection and promotion of cultural property, economic, social and environmental sustainability, tourism development, infrastructure and accessibility, health, safety and security.
About 130 entries from 57 countries were submitted for the 2022 competition. With the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the village of Jumalykyzyk in the northwestern province of Bursa and the village of Anytli in the southeastern province of Mardin were also among the candidate villages along with Birgi.
Birgi was ranked among the top 32 entrepreneurial tourism villages in the world in this year’s selection.
The awarding ceremony for the winners of the competition aimed at developing rural tourism will be held in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, on February 27-28.