New Seven Wonders of the World

Introduction

The New Seven Wonders of the World is a project created by the New Open World Corporation (NOWC), a private, non-profit company from Switzerland.

More than 100 million votes were cast over the internet or phone. Since there was no real way of preventing people from casting multiple votes, the poll is by no means scientific. Several campaigns were run to encourage voting for specific attractions. In Brazil, a campaign to "Vote for Christ" was heavily backed by telecommunications companies who stopped charging for phone calls to vote. In India the Taj Mahal was lagging a month before the final count, until a media blitz encouraged Indians to vote. In Jordan, the Queen joined the campaign and, at the final count, there were 14 million votes from Jordan, despite there only being a population of 7 million. Understandably, the poll has attracted criticism from many corners. Nonetheless, the list has also gained widespread media attention and is frequently used by tourism boards to promote their attraction.

On July 7, 2007 the winners were announced in Lisbon, Portugal.

The New Seven Wonders of the World

• Chichen Itza in Mexico
• Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Colosseum in Rome, Italy
• Great Wall of China in China
• Machu Picchu in Peru
• Petra in Jordan
• Taj Mahal in Agra, India