The international SMS voting for New 7 Wonders of Nature was complete at 11:11:11 on November 11, 2011 with Ha Long Bay in Vietnam becomes one of the 28 nominees for the final seven qualified sites.
The result will be announced at 7:07pm GMT or 2:00am Saturday (Vietnamese time).
Nguyen Van Tuan, head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said Ha Long Bay has received 19 million SMS messages voted by people across the world. The voting is organized by the NewOpenWorld.
Preliminary counting shows that Ha Long Bay is among 13 sites that have collected an increase in voted messages. Nine other top sites include the Dead Sea in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan; the Grand Canyon in the US; the Great Barrier Reef off Australia and Papua New Guinea); Jeita Grotto Cave in Lebanon; Jeju Island in South Korea; Komodo Island in Indonesia; Puerto Princesa Underground River in the Philippines; the Sunderbans in Bangladesh and India; and Vesuvius Mountain in Italy.
Voters could send their choices to a number which is accessible worldwide from most countries and mobile operators.
Ha Long Bay locates in Vietnam’s northern province of Quang Ninh. It includes some 1,600 islands and islets, forming a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars. Thanks to its precipitous nature, most of the islands are uninhabited and unaffected by human presence. A distinctive feature of Ha Long Bay is the abundance of lakes within the larger limestone islands.
The Vietnam travel companies are promoting to development here.