Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO

The United Nations World Tourism Organization selected the Pochampally village of Telangana as one of the best tourism villages in the world.

Why was Pochampally selected as the Best Tourism village?

The village is called the “Silk city of India”. It is famous for its handloom weaved “Ikat”. It received Geographical Indicator status in 2004. The village is known for its unique weaving styles and patterns. It received special focus under “Vocal for Local” initiative of Atma Nirbhar Bharat mission. The Pochampally handloom park uses 5,000 handlooms and is world famous.

What is Ikat that helped Pochampally to become Best Tourism Village?

Ikat is a dyeing technique. It originated in Indonesia. The technique is used to do resist dyeing on yarns prior to weaving and dyeing the fabric. Resist dyeing method is to prevent dye from reaching all the cloth. It creates a pattern. In Ikat, first the resist is formed by binding the yarns with a tight wrapping in the desired pattern. Then the yarns are dyed. After this, the bindings can be altered to create a new pattern and the yarns are dyed with different pattern. After the dyeing is completed, the yarns are woven into cloths.

What are the other resist dyeing methods other than Ikat?

Tie – dye and Batik. Tie – dyeing is done by folding, pleating, twisting and crumpling a fabric. The fabric is then tied with a rubber band or a string. And then the dye is applied. Batik is a wax resist dyeing. It is applied to the whole cloth. Then lines are drawn with a spouted tool called canting.

What were the other villages recommended by tourism ministry?

The tourism ministry had recommended Kongthing of Meghalaya and Ladhpura Khas of Madhya Pradesh along with Pochampally.

How are Best Tourism Villages chosen?

The best tourism villages are chosen based on its cultural and natural assets. In order to become the best tourism village, a village should promote its rural and community – based products, values, lifestyle. It should commit to innovation and sustainability in all aspects such as social, economic and environmental.

What helped Pochampally to become the best tourism village?

The Government of India had launched the Rural Tourism Project. Under the project, the Government promote rural tourism in the country. The Ministry of Tourism is the implementing agency of the project. The ministry evaluated more than 107 rural tourism projects under the project. Also, the GoI had been taking several other initiatives such as Swadesh Darshan Scheme to promote rural tourism.