Seven Natural Wonders One Step Closer : Kathika Travel Website

The gang from the New7Wonders Foundation have now been in action a few years, getting attention, recognition and hopefully a bit of funding to help protect important tourist sites around the world. Back in 2007 they announced the world’s New 7 Wonders including places like Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China winning acclaim. Now they’ve moved on to figure out the New 7 Wonders of Nature and the voting has just passed through an important stage.

How the 7 Wonders of Nature Works

This contest started in 2008 with a totally open call for nominations for sites which have a special place as natural wonders on earth – and although tourism potential is not essential (one was the Mariana Trench which is the deepest ocean trench around, but nobody can visit it), most of the natural wonders that were nominated were well-known as tourist destinations.

On December 31, 2008, the nominations closed and the number of votes each had won so far put them in a ranked list – and from this list, the top natural site from each country around the world was chosen to proceed in the contest. Some places which cover more than one country, like Niagara Falls which got nominated as the United States and Canada, are additional sites on the list.

From here, the public can vote for their seven favorites until July 7, 2009; then from the top 77 sites the experts will choose a final shortlist of 21. And finally, with voting, visits and campaigning going on throughout 2010, the final New 7 Wonders of Nature will be announced in 2011.

Hot Tips for Nature Winners

So far there is a very interesting list of natural sites that have made the nomination list for voting. Many are really well known, like Mount Fuji in Japan or the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and others are places that are getting more and more tourist attention recently, like Ha Long Bay in Vietnam and the Plitvice Lakes in Croatia. And then, when you check the list for African and Middle East nominations, for example, there are dozens of relatively unknown natural sites that make quite an exciting list of potential travel destinations.

Last time round when the same founders ran their New 7 Wonders contest, the winners ended up largely being the most famous sites on the list, even though there were some suspicions about unusual voting patterns. Does that mean the Niagara Falls will win this? It will be interesting to see some of the lesser known sites trying to get more votes as the campaign kicks on.

You can vote yourself too – just check the New 7 Wonders of Nature site and you only need to add your email address to verify your vote, so that nobody votes twice. This round closes in July so you have time to peruse the (long) list first.

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