New Seven Wonders Branding Expenses

The project of identifying the New Seven Wonders of World was taken by the Canadian-Swiss enthusiast Bernard Weber, with the blessings of the Swiss Federal Foundation Authority, organized worldwide polling on New Seven Wonders of World from 2001 to 2007 and announced the New Seven Wonder monuments of the World on 07-07-07. In 2007, the project on the New Seven Wonders of the Natural World was taken up and the following most amazing landscapes of the world were announced as the New Seven Wonders of Natural World by the foundation on 11-11-11 : 1.Amazon Rainforest, South Americarn2.Halong Bay, Vietnamrn3.Igauzu Falls, Argentina/Bazilrn4.Jeju Island, South Korearn5.Komodo National Park, Indonesiarn6.Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, Philippinesrn7.Table Mountain, South Africa Some controversies have come up in this project of New Seven Wonders of World , although the foundation received 440 nomination from 220 countries and 20 wonders of Nature were short listed for polling throughout the Globe to select Seven Wonders of World out of them. There were protests from countries on the fees charged for participating in the programme. They were required to pay $199 as entry fee in the beginning, but later when the selection process started, some countries were asked to pay huge sums for supporting world wide marketing campaign. Indonesian government claims to have had a demand for $10 million to cover licensing fee and an additional $4Seven million for hosting the official closing ceremony. Maldives withdrew their nomination when the found the cost of participation would go upto $500,000. There are also comments against branding effort by the participating countries. The foundation representatives, however, claim that their branding efforts on New Seven Wonders of World were not compulsory and the allegations from countries on charging exorbitant prices were not justified. The United Nations Economic Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) , which originally supported this project, later informed that they have no links with this effort. They had some reservations on the method of polling and selection of finalists on the basis of such polling and at the same time, observed that the list of New Seven Wonders of World is finalized by a private agency and reflects only the opinion of those who have access to Internet and not the entire world. In the meantime, the New Seven Wonders of World team is proceeding with their programme on the New Seven Wonders of the World Cities.