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 Travel & Outdoors | June 2007 
New Seven Wonders Coming Soon
 Eliane Engeler & Alexander G. Higgins - Associated Press
| A woman walks in front of the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, near the town of Valladolid, southern Mexico, in February. Chichen Itza is among contenders to be the new seven wonders of the world. The seven winners will be announced July 7 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Israel Leal/Associated Press)
How to vote
Anyone can participate in the New 7 Wonders of the World campaign by voting for your choice of 20 nominees. The campaign was begun in 1999 by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber, whose New7Wonders Foundation aims to promote cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments. It relies on private donations and revenue from selling broadcasting rights.
You can vote online by becoming a member of New7Wonders at no cost and choosing your seven candidates once during your registration. You can also vote by phone from anywhere in the world by dialing an international number listed on the Web site: new7wonders.com. |
The Great Wall, the Colosseum and Machu Picchu are among leading contenders to be the new seven wonders of the world as a massive poll enters its final month with votes already cast by more than 50 million people, organizers say.
As the July 6 voting deadline approaches, the rankings can still change. Also in the top 10 are Greece's Acropolis, Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer, the Taj Mahal and Jordan's Petra.
The Great Pyramids of Giza, the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders of the ancient world, are assured of keeping their status in addition to the new seven after indignant Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace they had to compete for a spot.
First global vote
Latin Americans and Asians have been the most enthusiastic voters so far in the final round of 20 candidates for the world's top architectural marvels, but people from every country in the world have voted by Internet or phone, says the nonprofit organization conducting the balloting.
"It's the first ever global vote," said Tia B. Viering, spokeswoman for the New 7 Wonders of the World campaign.
The organizers are hoping for a final surge of voting from the United States and Europe to make the selection truly global.
Rome's Colosseum, China's Great Wall, Peru's Machu Picchu, India's Taj Mahal and Jordan's Petra have been among the leaders since January while the Acropolis and the Statue of Christ Redeemer made their way up from the middle of the field to the top level, according to latest tallies. The United States' Statue of Liberty and Australia's Sydney Opera House have been sitting in the bottom 10 since the start.
Also in the bottom group are Cambodia's Angkor, Spain's Alhambra, Turkey's Hagia Sophia, Japan's Kiyomizu Temple, Russia's Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral, Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle, Britain's Stonehenge and Mali's Timbuktu.
'It's now or never'
Americans and Europeans have the lowest participation so far, Viering said. "At the moment, most of the voting is coming from Latin America and Asia," she said. But organizers are confident the campaign will draw more attention in the U.S. and Europe in the final phase, Viering added.
"Excitement is starting to pick up in the United States" because the campaign is gaining attention worldwide and Americans are starting to realize how positive it is, she said.
"People realize that it's now or never."
The ancient city of Petra in southwestern Jordan -- popularized by the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and famous for its water tunnels and stone structures carved in the rock -- jumped from the middle of the pack to the top seven in January thanks to campaigning by the Jordanian royal family and thousands of Jordanians voting by text message over their mobile phones, Viering said.
The campaign was begun in 1999 by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber, with almost 200 nominations coming in from around the world. The list of candidates was narrowed down to 21 by the start of 2006. Since organizers started a tour to each site last September, the competition has been heating up.
There is no foolproof way to prevent people from voting more than once for their favorite wonder, but most of the votes are cast by Internet in a system that registers each participant's e-mail address to discourage people from voting twice, Viering said.
"We have a lot of kids (voting) and that trend is continuing ... but we have votes really from every part of the population," she added. |
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