TEHRAN—There are 11 target tourist villages across Lorestan province, of which two villages, namely Bisheh and Kapar Judaki, have the potential to be nominated for registration in the world's top tourist villages list.

Head of Lorestan Cultural Heritage Department Ata Hassanpour told ISNA:  “Three years ago, we handed over the affairs of Bisheh village in terms of tourism services to the governor of that rural district so that local communities can benefit from the village’s waterfall.”

"That is why all the financial credit for the infrastructure of this village is provided from this place, and in addition, in recent years, all the infrastructure, including picnic platforms, a connecting bridge, toilets, a prayer room, and even an access road, was built there."

Regarding the access road, he said that the route to the Bisheh Waterfall is a drift due to the geological formation there, which is always a problem. But with the plan that the Road Maintenance Department has on its agenda, this problem of trenches on the route will definitely be solved.

Hassanpour stated that this village has become famous as a village without unemployment due to the presence of the waterfall and the use of the 12-month benefits of this waterfall, adding that perhaps another reason for this is the railway route of this village.

He continued that the most beautiful part of the route, which is located in Iran in terms of geotourism and has become famous in the world, is this route from Doroud to Khuzestan due to its tunnels, bridges, pristine attractions such as a waterfall, endemic animal species such as salamander, as well as the hospitality of its people, which are along the railway axis and are among the attractions that have been attached to Bisheh.

Hassanpour stated that last year, the River and Rail Festival was held in the village of Bisheh with the presence of foreign journalists residing in Iran, and this village was among the eight candidates to introduce Iran for possible registration with the World Tourism Organization, but for various reasons, it could not gain points.

He said: “In terms of infrastructure, Bisheh itself does not have any particular problem for registration, it is only in the matter of narration, which is also a ritual and in fact a spiritual issue that we need to work on. If the people of Bisheh village help and spontaneously cooperate and work in this field, and this is accepted by the world organization, the village will definitely be registered nationally.”

He noted: “But we have another village in Borujerd called Kapar Judaki, and one of the elements that this organization pays attention to is the spontaneous presence of people in environmental issues, where people build nests for storks on top of electric light poles.”

KD