The Amazon rainforest, Vietnam’s Halong Bay and Argentina’s Iguazu Falls were named among the world’s new seven wonders of nature, according to organizers of a global poll.
The other four crowned the world’s natural wonders are South Korea’s Cheju Island, Indonesia’s Komodo, the Philippines’ Puerto Princesa Underground River and South Africa’s Table Mountain, said the New7Wonders foundation, citing provisional results.
Final results will be announced early next year, said the Swiss foundation, warning there may yet be changes between the provisional winners and the final list.
Sites that have failed to make the cut include Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, the Dead Sea and the US Grand Canyon.
Residents of Cheju welcomed the announcement, with a 2,000-strong crowd bursting into cheers of “We made it,” Yonhap news agency reported.
Cheju Governor Woo Geun-min said the listing would open “a new chapter” for the island’s tourism industry.
“This will greatly help attract tourists to Cheju, enhance investment and bolster awareness about Cheju’s agricultural products,” he told journalists.
The island is renowned for its tangerines.
The poll organized by Swiss foundation New7Wonders has attracted great interest, mobilizing celebrities including Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi calling on fans to pick his home country’s Iguazu Falls.
The results come after a long consultation process lasting from December 2007 to July 2009, when world citizens were asked to put forward sites that they deemed were natural wonders.
More than 1 million votes were cast to trim the list of more than 440 contenders in more than 220 countries down to a shortlist of 77. The group was then further cut to 28 finalists by a panel of experts.
Anyone in the world was then able to vote for the final seven via telephone, text messages or Internet social networks.
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