Team Herald
PANJIM: Bandora village in Ponda Taluka earned national recognition as it was among 36 villages across the country recognised as winners of Best Tourism Villages Competition 2024 organised by Union Ministry of Tourism, on the occasion of World Tourism Day.
Bandora won the National Spiritual and Wellness Tourism award. The award were also given in adventure tourism, agri tourism, community based tourism, craft, heritage and responsible tourism.
To promote tourism to the Soul of India (India’s villages), the Best Tourism Villages Competition was introduced in 2023. The focus was to identify and recognise villages which preserve and promote cultural and natural assets through community-based values and commitment to sustainability in all aspects.
The first edition of the Best Tourism Villages Competition in 2023 saw applications from 795 villages. In the second edition of the Best Tourism Villages Competition, a total of 991 applications were received from 30 States and Union Territories (UTs), out of which 36 villages were recognised as winners across eight categories of the Best Tourism Villages Competition 2024.