Madhya Pradesh: Ladhpura Khas nominated as 'Best Tourism Village' for UNWTO award

The village of Ladhpura Khas in Madhya Pradesh's Orchha has been shortlisted for the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) award for the category of the 'Best Tourism Village.' On his official Twitter handle, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, thanked the Tourism Department officials for their success. He wrote, “A moment of pride for us all as Madhya Pradesh's village Ladhpura Khas has been selected for entry to the UNWTO 'Best Tourism Village'. My best wishes to the whole team of MPTourism and administration on this achievement. Keep up the good work!” 

Sheo Shekhar Shukla, the Principal Secretary of Tourism and Culture, stated that the Union Ministry of Tourism has nominated Ladhpura Khas village near tourist town Orchha under the Best Tourism Village category for the United Nations World Tourism Organization Award. Along with this, two other villages have been nominated - (one each) from Meghalaya and Telangana. He went on to say that the 'Rural Tourism' initiative was established to give a proper structure to the conception of rural tourists by bringing new aspects to the tourism industry. 

More about 'Rural Tourism' initiative

Shukla also said that the aim is to develop 100 villages within the next five years under the rural tourism initiative. He even mentioned the suitable places chosen and redeveloped are Orchha, Khajuraho, Mandu, Sanchi, Pachmarhi, Tamia, Panna National Park, Bandhavgarh National Park, Sanjay Dubri National Park, Pench and Kanha National Parks, Mitawali, Padawali, and other locations. 

Shukla went on to say that the 'Rural Tourism' initiative will allow locals to learn about tourists' interests and requirements while also preserving the value of local heritage and culture. He added that this programme would also guide the tourists to find lodging of specific local cultural specialities and can even try different processes of local food, outfit, dialect, rituals, traditions, local modes of transportation. It will also help highlight the jewellery, local makeups, traditional music, dance, musical instruments, and painting. It will also display the methods of how the villagers preserve food grains and food. This will also focus on the local sports, social life and economic methods of the villagers.  

As per PTI, Shukla said that tourism growth in their region would immediately help the local people. The MP Tourism Board also offers training to help communities create tourism-related goods. 

Image: Twitter/ Unsplash