Heritage: The New Seven Wonders

On July 7, 2007, seven world-known sites were named the new Seven Wonders of the World, after a worldwide vote by telephone and Internet. They are the Chichen Itza's El Castillo, the Taj Mahal in India, the Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, Brazil's statue of Christ the Redeemer, Peru's Machu Picchu, and the Colosseum in Rome. The Pyramids of Giza received an honorary place on the list, as it is the last remaining monument of the original Seven Wonders of the World...

The results of the world's first-ever global vote to determine the New 7 Wonders of the World were announced on July 7, 2007, in Lisbon, in the presence of 50,000 spectators. Now, after 7 years of campaigning, Bernard Weber, Founder and President of New7Wonders, shares his thoughts about what made this election so different and the results so special. Who Voted the Most?

Neuschwanstein Castle hit new record in attracting visitors, as 1.36 million people (an increase of 8.4%) came last year. According to Bavarian Finance Minister Erwin Huber. Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany Feb. 22, 2008

Economic growth is slowing in Mexico, as the hit from the U.S. recession offsets a boom in oil revenues. The government expects the gross domestic product to expand by 2.8% this year, compared with 3.3% last year. The country depends heavily on manufacturing exports to the U.S., which have slowed due to the U.S. downturn. More than 21 million tourists visited Mexico in 2007, but the figure was only a very slight increase on the previous year. The country is keen to draw in as many tourist dollar...

The Indian people all over the world were overjoyed when the Taj Mahal won its place in the list of the New Seven Wonders. The Indian government however was allegedly not as happy as the common man. Infrastructure requirements of the city of Agra – where the Taj Mahal is located –are far from satisfactory, and especially the numerous cases of robbed and assaulted foreign tourists also present a serious problem for the local tourism development...

A record number of tourists visited Petra last year with arrivals topping 580,000 and encouraging the industry to introduce a range of development schemes to sustain the flow. Official figures showed a 62 per cent increase in visitors last year, up from 360,000 in 2006, which generated $13.4 million in tourism receipts for the country...

Machu Picchu’s selection as one of the new Seven Wonders of the modern world has led according to the Regional Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism to a 20 percent increase in the number of tourists visiting the Imperial city of Cusco...