Champagne region gets UNESCO world heritage status

France’s wine-making region of Champagne and a part of Burgundy are granted ?world heritage status? by the United Nations, giving a boost to the country’s drive to encourage tourism and revive its flagging economy.
The designation by UNESCO, the United Nation’s cultural arm, is accorded to cultural and natural sites deemed significant to world history and can be accompanied by funding for preservation.
France is already the world’s most visited country, welcoming 84 million tourists last year. The euro zone’s second-largest economy is looking to the tourism industry, which employs some two million people, to help kick-start growth.
Last month, the government announced a fund intended to boost everything from hotels to heritage sites.
In Champagne, UNESCO recognised an area where the method of producing sparkling wines was developed in the early 17th century to its early industrialization in the 19th century.
It includes the vineyards of Hautvillers, Ajy and Mareuil-sur-Ajy, Saint-Nicaise Hill in Reims, and the Avenue de Champagne and Fort Chabrol in Epernay, as well as production sites, underground cellars, and the sales and distribution centres, or Champagne Houses.
In Burgundy, UNESCO recognised the Climats, vineyards on the slopes of the Cote de Nuits and the Cote de Beaune south of Dijon.