The New Seven Wonders of the World project was initiated in 2001 by a non-government body of volunteers to determine the modern world’s most spectacular cultural wonders to correspond to those of the ancient world. The organization, New7Wonders, called for a global referendum to determine the seven wonders of the modern world. This hyped-up and highly visible campaign resulted in the 2007 announcement (after apparently more than 100 million votes) of seven new wonders of the world, six of which are located in less-developed countries: Chichen Itza (Mexico), Christ Redeemer (Brazil), Great Wall of China (China), Taj Mahal (India), Petra (Jordan), and Macchu Pichu (Peru). The seventh is the Colosseum in Italy. This exercise in “global democracy” was considered by the organization to be a significant success (New7Wonders 2008) and, for the purposes of this chapter, it illustrates the importance of the developing world as a host for some of the earth’s most wondrous and scientifically important historic relics. In the not so distant past, many tropical developing nations concentrated their promotional efforts on boosting their tourism economies via the sun, sea and sand (SSS) model of unplanned and poorly regulated tourism growth. Today, however, given the traditional socio-cultural and ecological pitfalls associated with mass tourism based on the three Ss, together with the realization of the importance of cultural heritage as a resource for tourism, many traditional beach destinations have started to refocus their promotional and planning efforts to include heritage attractions to broaden their resource base and tourism offerings (Source: Cultural Tourism and Lesser Developed Countries).
Cultural Opening of Developing Countries and Their Vital Role in Cultural Tourism
