Photo courtesy of the Israel Ministry of Tourism
With just days to go in the contest selecting seven natural sites as new wonders of the world, the Dead Sea is placing among the top 10 out of 27 finalists, according to the Israeli Tourism Ministry. The Ministry said the announcement was made by the New7Wonders of Nature campaign on Sunday, with the global, open-to-the-public voting contest set to conclude on Friday.
The Dead Sea is joined by several sites in Asia, the Grand Canyon (USA), the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) Jeita Grotto (Lebanon) and Mount Vesuvius (Italy). The voting is being done by text message and online at www.new7wonders.com.
Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov said in their press release, “We are closer than ever to victory, but we must remember that we are not there yet and everything can still change. We must not be apathetic, rather we must continue to vote for the Dead Sea in full force, both in Israel and around the world.”
He also noted the tourism and economic impact of a victory for the Dead Sea, which was jointly sponsored in the contest by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians.
“A win for the Dead Sea would mean hundreds of thousands of more tourists to the region every year, thousands of more job opportunities and an improvement in Israel’s image overseas as an attractive tourism destination,” said Misezhnikov.
The press release said the Ministry of Tourism and the Prime Minister’s Office both have called for the public to vote for the Dead Sea.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, November 8, 2011)