Geneva: Officials of places that made it to the Seven New Wonders of Nature list on Saturday greeted with jubilation the results of the worldwide online poll that ended on Friday.
Edwin Lacierda, spokesman of Philippine President Benigno Aquino, said the inclusion of the Puerto Princesa Underground River in the list will not just benefit Palawan province where the river is located, but will also positively affect the whole country.
Aside from the Philippine entry, making the list were: the Amazon rainforest, Vietnam's Halong Bay, Argentina's Iguazu Falls, South Korea's Jeju Island, Indonesia's Komodo, and South Africa's Table Mountain. Read more on the new seven wonders of nature
Israel's Dead Sea and the Grand Canyon in the US were high profile entries to miss out on the provisional list.
The New7wonders foundation allowed anyone around the world to vote using telephone, text messaging or social networks on the internet. The exclusive list has been four years in the making, with people initially allowed to nominate and vote on their favourite natural wonders around the world back in 2007. There were 440 entries for that list, which was eventually pared down to a shortlist of 28 finalists.
More than a million votes were posted for the poll.
However, the results are not conclusive, the New7Wonders foundation said, with final results to be announced early next year.
Residents of Jeju welcomed the announcement, with a 2,000-strong crowd bursting into cheers of "We made it", the Yonhap news agency reported. Jeju Governor Woo Geun-min said the listing would open "a new chapter" for the island's tourism industry.
The poll organised by Swiss foundation New7Wonders has attracted great interest, mobilising celebrities including Argentinian football star Lionel Messi calling on fans to pick his home country's Iguazu Falls.
New7Wonders said its aim is to create a global memory by garnering participation worldwide.
But even as the natural wonders poll came to a close, the New7Wonders foundation has set its eyes on a new survey — the top seven cities of the world. Participating cities will be announced on January 1.
Missed opportunity
Meanwhile, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian National Authority learned that the Dead Sea had not been voted as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.
For Pini Shani, head of overseas development at the Israeli tourism ministry, it was a missed opportunity, especially considering the $2.1 million (Dh7 million) they pumped into a high-profile campaign.
Israel's Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov put a brave face on it, calling it the campaign "a true victory".
"Thanks to the impressive campaign led by the Ministry of Tourism over the last two years, hundreds of millions of people worldwide have now been exposed to the Dead Sea," he said in a statement.
With inputs from Gilbert Felongco, Correspondent
