The villages of Rasinari (Sibiu County), Biertan (Sibiu County) and Ciocanesti (Suceava County) obtained the highest scores in the national phase of the "Best Tourism Villages" competition, launched by the World Tourism Organization, informs the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism (MAT)."Our villages are true ambassadors of Romanian tourism! This year, Rasinari, Biertan and Ciocanesti, thanks to such tools of international promotion, have a new opportunity to become known throughout the world and, moreover, to be found in the offer of many international travel agencies. MAT will be with them in the world stage of the competition! Congratulations to all the candidate villages!," said the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Tourism, Constantin-Daniel Cadariu.According to the quoted source, the final rankings, obtained following the evaluations carried out by the commission of specialists within MAT is the following: 1st place: Rasinari- photo (Sibiu county); 2nd place: Biertan (Sibiu county), 3rd place: Ciocanesti (Suceava county), 4th place: Costesti (Valcea county), 5th place: Eibenthal (Mehedinti county), 6th place: Sadului River (Sibiu county)."The 9 selection criteria provided by the organizer, based on which the final scores were prepared, refer to cultural and natural resources, promotion and conservation of cultural resources, economic sustainability, social sustainability, environmental development, tourism development and value chain integration, governance and the prioritization of tourism, infrastructure and connectivity, health, safety and security. In addition, photos and videos presenting the destinations were scored," the release said.The representatives of the ministry say that Rasinari, Biertan and Ciocanesti will thus be Romania's proposals for the world phase of the competition, as provided by the regulation. The three villages have the chance to be designated "Best Tourism Villages" or to be included in the Upgrade Program, through which they will receive support from World Tourism Organization and partners to improve their areas of activity, according to the results of the evaluation.The final results of the competition will be announced in December this year.