A region in Quang Binh has been honored as the best tourist village in the world.

On the afternoon of October 19th, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the World Tourism Organization honored Tan Hoa (Minh Hoa, Quang Binh) as the best tourist village in the world.

Tan Hoa is the only village in Vietnam to be selected for this list.

Tan Hoa is the only Vietnamese village selected by the World Tourism Organization among 260 villages from 60 countries participating in the 2023 competition.

According to information from the Vietnam National Tourism Administration, after evaluating 260 applications from 60 countries, the World Tourism Organization recognized the rich and outstanding cultural and natural resources of Tan Hoa village (Quang Binh province), along with the village's commitments and actions in adhering to the three main pillars of sustainable tourism development.

Later, the World Tourism Organization officially recognized Tan Hoa village as one of the best tourist villages in the world.

Tan Hoa is a mountainous commune in Minh Hoa district, located about 8km southeast of Quy Dat town center. Tan Hoa is blessed with many majestic landscapes and unique cultural features.

However, due to its unique geographical location, Tan Hoa is often considered a "flood-prone" area, frequently submerged in floodwaters for days at a time.

Following the historic flood of 2010, in 2011 the people of Tan Hoa commune came up with the initiative to make floating rafts to "live with the flood".

In recent years, the people of Tan Hoa have participated in local tourism activities, contributing to sustainable poverty reduction. With the support of businesses, Tan Hoa has become a weather-adaptive tourism village with unique and distinctive tourism products.

Mr. Ho An Phong, Vice Chairman of the Quang Binh Provincial People's Committee, said that being recognized as one of the best tourist villages in the world is only the first step in the development of tourism in Tan Hoa.

"This prestigious award is an opportunity for Tan Hoa to confidently step out into the world and gradually become a shining example of Vietnamese tourism. However, in the process of developing tourism, Tan Hoa needs to preserve the cultural identity of Vietnamese rural villages and not disrupt the green living space," Mr. Phong said.

The Best Village Award is a global initiative by the World Tourism Organization to highlight villages where tourism preserves and promotes community-based and rural values, products, and lifestyles.

This initiative also recognizes the contribution of villages to sustainable development goals through tourism.

Additionally, Xinhua was chosen as the setting for the Hollywood film Kong: Skull Island.