UNWTO selects Pochampally as one of the best tourism villages

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated18/11/2021

United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has selected Telangana's Pochampally village as one of the best tourism villages in the world.
The prestigious award will be given on the occasion of the 24th session of the UNWTO General Assembly on December 2, 2021, in Madrid, Spain.

Pochampally village is located about 50 km east of Hyderabad is known as the Ikkat capital of India.
The village is famous for its handloom work that includes the delicate hand-woven ikkat saree.
Pochampally sari also received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2005.
Even before winning this prestigious ‘Best Tourism Village Award’, the Pochampally handloom was world-famous; the weaving cluster is listed as a tentative list of world heritage.
In addition to this, the village is also known for its rich history.
It is interesting to note that the village is also known as Bhoodan Pochampally that honors the social reformer Acharya Bhave who started the Bhoodan Movement from Pochampally Village where he asked the wealthy land-owners to give up land to landless people.
A two-room house where Bhave had resided during his stay at Pochampally is preserved as “Vinobha Bhave Mandir.”
By this, we come to know that the place has kept its tradition intact, a requirement of the UNWTO for the best tourism village label.

Ikat is a method for colouring fabric in patterns by resist dyeing.
Ikat is a Malaysian, Indonesian word which means “Tie and Dye”.
Ikat is believed to have its origin in South East Asia, South America and West Africa.
It’s an ancient art that was derived from the Malay word, ‘Mengikat’ which means to tie.
It involves the process of wrapping (or tying) and dyeing sections of bundled yarn to a predetermined colour pattern before they are woven.
The dye penetrates into exposed sections while the wrapped section remains undyed.
This pattern formed by the yarn in this process is woven into fabric.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.
Its headquarters is located at Madrid, Spain.
Aim:

A village that recognizes its cultural and natural assets, preserves and promotes rural and community-based values, products, lifestyle, and has committed to innovation and sustainability in all its aspects – economic, social, and environmental, will be chosen for the Best Tourism Village label.
Further, it will also receive support from UNWTO and its Partners in improving elements of the areas identified as gaps in the evaluation process.
With the initiative, UNWTO is looking for the best examples of rural villages that are harnessing the power of tourism to provide opportunity and safeguard their communities, local traditions, and heritage.

To promote rural tourism in the country, the Ministry of Tourism started the rural tourism project.
With this, it aims to promote domestic as well as foreign tourists and boost the socio-economic development of rural people.
Under the project, the Ministry of Tourism evaluated 107 rural tourism projects spread across all the states in India.
This was done to understand the effect of rural tourism projects on the lives of the locals in the villages and to analyze if the uniqueness of the areas managed to attract tourists.
The Government of India has been taking several initiatives to boost rural tourism such as the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, the institution of national tourism award for ‘best rural/Agri/plantation tourism projects’ among several others.