According to a list of provisional results released on Friday, The Dead Sea was not among the winners in the New 7 Wonders of Nature contest despite a high profile campaign by the Israeli government.
Among the winners, were the Amazon of South America, Halong Bay of Vietnam, Iguazu Falls of Argentina and Brazil, Jeju Island of South Korea, Komodo of Indonesia, Puerto Princesa Underground River of the Philippines and Table Mountain of South Africa.
The Tourism Ministry led a comprehensive public relations campaign to popularize the Dead Sea, and in May, the cabinet approved a 8.75 million shekel marketing budget to further spread the word about the vote. In mid-October Meseznikov launched a countdown clock to the contest's end on the top of the Tel Aviv Crown Plaza City Center, and about a week later, the education minister and prime minister hosted a virtual classroom about the Dead Sea for students nationwide.
