The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 28th that it has selected the “Top 20 Star Villages” among rural experience and recreational villages nationwide. This project was implemented to discover outstanding villages with unique strategies based on regional characteristics and resources, and to promote the revitalization of the rural economy.
The evaluation was conducted based on criteria such as on-site performance by expert judges, the originality and uniqueness of experience content, the quality of accommodations and meals, storytelling elements, and the connectivity with nearby tourism resources. Public online voting was also reflected. Among approximately 1,200 rural experience and recreational villages nationwide, 20 villages were ultimately selected.
The selected villages include ‘Dalae Village’ in Yangyang-gun, Gangwon Province, ‘Dumo Village’ in Namhae-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, ‘Imsil Cheese Village’ in Imsil-gun, Jeollabuk-do, and ‘Oseong Hanok Village’ in Wanju-gun, Jeollabuk-do. Dalae Village was highly rated for its medicinal dining table made with local specialties and Finnish-style sauna experience, Dumo Village for its traditional terraced rice field landscape, Imsil Cheese Village for operating Korea’s first cheese experience program, and Oseong Hanok Village is known as a filming location for BTS.
Detailed information on the “Top 20 Star Villages” can be found on the rural tourism portal ‘Welchon’ website.
Park Seong-woo, Director of the Rural Policy Bureau, said, “We plan to focus on producing promotional content and supporting SNS promotions for the selected villages,” adding, “We will nurture successful cases nationwide as leading models for rural tourism and regional economic revitalization.”
