For the fourth year in a row, Lebanon’s “Favorite Village” competition was launched to get Lebanese from home or from abroad to vote for “Le Village Préféré des Libanais”. This year, the 10 Lebanese villages selected to compete and win the label are Amchit, Barouk, Baskinta, Becharre, Cana, Ghazir, Hebbariye, Hermel, Machghara, and Qubeyat.
This competition, which aims at introducing the Lebanese people to Lebanon beautiful villages that are not very well known, is produced by the L’Orient Le Jour (OLJ) newspaper in collaboration with different partners.
The newspaper adopted the idea of the project in 2015 after it was first brought up by a colleague and was presented to, and approved immediately by, the tourism ministry for implementation.
This year, the launching ceremony was held at the American University of Beirut (AUB) on the grounds of the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit (ESDU), which is part of the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science (FAFS).
Deputies Nadim Gemayel, Eddy Maalouf, and Elias Hankache attended the ceremony, as well as former MP and minister Michel Pharaon, who is one of the main promoters of domestic tourism in Lebanon, and many other public and political figures.
Minister Pharaon delivered a speech emphasizing the fact that “rural tourism is an evident and clear success” at the national level. He also pointed out that “L’Orient-Le Jour is the most important vector in the promotion of culture and for development,” noting that nearly 170,000 people voted in the past years’ competition.
As part of the launching ceremony, each nominated village participated with kiosks displaying its food, agricultural and handicraft products, and dishes, as well as its cultural heritage and environmental and religious landmarks.
The public voting has started, as of July 10, and will close on August 28. We encourage all our Lebanese readers to join the thrill and participate with their votes. You may do so at the website of L’Orient-Le-Jour that has also made available to the public a report and a video of each village to help you decide on your favorite.
