The Cuban capital has been chosen by popular vote as one of the Seven Wonder Cities of the World, from among more than 1,200 cities in 220 countries nominated in the New7Wonders competition.
The Swiss foundation announced online the list of the planet’s most amazing cities, which included La Paz (Bolivia), Doha (Qatar), Durban (South Africa), Beirut (Lebanon), Vigan (Philippines) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
“I would like to thank everyone who has helped promote the New7Wonders Cities campaign since its inception in 2011. We began with more than 1,200 nominees from 220 different countries and here we have seven that represent the global diversity of urban society.
For the first time in human history, more than half of our planet’s population lives in cities, and this election emphasizes the dramatically challenging character of our changing world,” said Bernard Weber - New7Wonders founder and president, in a video shared on the Internet. During a recent visit to Cuba, Jean Paul de la Fuente, head of Value Development for the foundation, noted the positive impact which the selection of Havana should have on the development of tourism. The online voting process began in 2012 to select seven Wonder Cities from among more than 1,200 nominations, and in 2013 the 300 initial contenders were announced. In a second stage, the competition was reduced to 28 cities, and on October 7, 2014, the list of 14 final candidates was presented.
The results based on the vote count were announced at the end of the campaign December 7, though special events are being organized in each of the selected cities. This is the third global vote organized by the Swiss New7Wonders foundation. The first in 2007 identified the seven most amazing human-built structures in the world, and four years later, voting to choose New Natural Wonders was organized.
