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SARAJEVO, December 14 (FENA) - Fourteen incredible small towns from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina were declared ‘The Most Beautiful Villages of Bosnia and Herzegovina’ at a ceremony held today in the premises of the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Director of the USAID Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Courtney Chubb, announced the winners of the competition organized by USAID's partner - the Association for the Development of Rural Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Alterural), and the first group of winners included: Blagaj (City of Mostar), Mijakovići - Bobovac (Municipality of Vareš), Bratač (Municipality of Nevesinje), Guča Gora (Municipality of Travnik), Kraljeva Sutjeska (Municipality of Kakanj), Krupa na Vrbasu (City of Banja Luka), Martin Brod (City of Bihać), Ostrožac (City of Cazin), Pecka (Municipality of Mrkonjić City), Prokoško Lake (Municipality of Fojnica), Ravno (Municipality of Ravno), Stupe - Žabljak (City of Livno), Umoljani (Municipality of Trnovo) and Vranci (Municipality of Kreševo).
“USAID proudly supports this initiative and the award for the most beautiful villages in BiH, and the 14 winners of this award will not only be marked as valuable tourist destinations that should be visited, but will represent an incentive for faster economic development in local communities, but and beyond,” stated Chubb.
Those villages in BiH, according to her, now join a prestigious club of villages and towns in other countries around the world that have been shown to have significantly profited in terms of tourism, as well as economy.
As Chubb added, the award will contribute to creating new jobs, and new opportunities for earning income, and better connections will be made that will enable the preservation of the cultural and natural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the local community and beyond.
Executive director of the Alterural Association, Sarah Devisme, stated that the inaugural winners of the Most Beautiful Villages of Bosnia and Herzegovina contest were selected by a jury composed of experts in the fields of architecture, cultural heritage and rural development.
With support from the US Government, through USAID’s Developing Sustainable Tourism in BiH project, the Alterural Association will, as she added, provide long-term support to the winning villages through education, publicity and networking to help these villages develop tourism while protecting their natural and cultural legacy.
The FBiH Minister of Environment and Tourism, Edita Đapo, stated that the Ministry, together with USAID, created the FBiH Tourism Development Strategy 2022-2027, in which the priorities are rural development and the development of rural tourism.
“This project is extremely important because, in addition to all the tourist pearls we have like Mostar, Sarajevo, Bihać, Jajce, Neum, Banja Luka, Trebinje and others, it is very important to brand and promote BiH villages, and each of these villages has its own way of life, a different tradition and culture, so that it can attract not only domestic but also foreign tourists,” pointed out Đapo.
Assistant Minister of Trade and Tourism of the Republika Srpska Predrag Tešić said that the Government of the RS, together with the USAID Tourism project, prepared the Tourism Development Strategy of the RS 2021-2027, in which the development of rural tourism took an important place.
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