IMTM 2011 - Israel's International Mediterranean Tourism to highlight voting for the Dead Sea in the New7Wonders Contest.
This year, the IMTM is spotlighting the votes that the Dead Sea has won in the New7Wonders contest. The contest was launched in 2007, with initial participation of 440 sites from 220 countries. In the final stage that’s currently taking place, the competition features 28 sites from various countries – and the Dead Sea is among the finalists. The finalist sites represent a breathtaking array of global tourism and heritage sites.
Like the previous competition in which seven wonders created by people were chosen by over 100 million votes, a professional panel chose the 28 finalist sites. Next, the final voting phase began. Over a two-year period, people from across the world have cast their votes for their seven favorite wonders, by internet or SMS. The short list is to be published in November this year, and over a million people are expected to vote. For the Dead Sea to enter the competition, collaboration was necessary between Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority.
Organizers of IMTM are promoting the Dead Sea marketing campaign through global voting, featuring it in advertisements for the event. At the opening ceremony, awards for People of the Year in Tourism will be conferred on key people in Israeli culture and tourism - members of the Israel Opera and the Dead Sea regional councils. Against all odds they created the “Nabucco at Masada” project - the largest cultural event ever staged in Israel.
Eyal Shmueli, publisher and editor-in-chief of Israel Travel News magazine, and one of the architects of IMTM says: "The Dead Sea’s reaching the contest’s final stage is a tremendous milestone in making Israel a tourism magnet; it marks the growing recognition that the Dead Sea is enjoying. Apart from the honor that Israel would get by winning, taking part also has major significance for regional development, creating jobs in the Eastern Negev, demographic growth, and important implications for developing the State of Israel. So at IMTM we have taken on the task of helping the Dead Sea to be chosen as one of the seven new wonders - and we all hope that we’ll pull it off.”
IMTM Is the annual central event of Israel’s tourism sector. Its mission is to encourage incoming and outgoing tourism, plus domestic tourism in Israel, and to strengthen joint ventures with other countries. This is the 17th consecutive year of the event. Alongside the foreign nations taking part are Israeli representatives, tourism associations from around the country, hotels and airlines, car rental organizations, and tourism-service providers.
The event is organized by Ortra Ltd. and Israel Travel News, and sponsored by the Tourism Ministry, the Israel Hotel Association, EL AL, IATA, Israel Tourist & Travel Agents Association,
and Tel Aviv – Jaffa Tourism Association.
