Best village competition launched

Villages across the country will be participating in a “Best Village Competition” organised by the Ministry of Business’ Department of Tourism.

The competition is aimed at enhancing the image of villages and driving tourism at a regional level.

It was launched in the ministry’s boardroom on Thursday following a workshop with regional representatives on the United Nations International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

Villages will be selected by the regional administrations, said Director General of Tourism Donald Sinclair. The villages will have to be attractive and promote cleanliness to locals and tourists, he added.

“We have always been criticised for having a dirty country, extensive garbage, [and] waterways clogged with plastic around the place. This is one [way of] addressing those labels,” Sinclair noted. He explained that by keeping the villages clean, it would help to restore pride among residents.

“We hope this would grow and villages would come on board and enhance the physical condition of their village by promoting more green spaces,” he said.

“We are looking at sustainability of the projects, raising the standards of all the villages by sprucing up monuments, playfields, sports facilities, public buildings and public spaces, so that residents themselves would feel a greater sense of pride in their village,” Sinclair added, while highlighting some of the criteria the competition would be judged on.

Judging of the competition will be done in the months of September and October and winners will be announced during November, which is designated as Tourism Awareness month.

Sinclair added that substantial cash prizes for infrastructural work in 2018 will be given to winners in the categories of small, medium and large villages.