Table Mountain’s status as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature has become official after an international audit confirmed the result of a global voting process, the City of Cape Town’s Executive Mayor, Alderman Patricia de Lille, announced today.
Mayor De Lille described the title as “a great accolade for a unique wonder of nature that belongs to all the people of Cape Town, South Africa, Africa and the world. The New Seven Wonders title has great long-term marketing value for Cape Town and South Africa. The wonder becomes part of school curricula, it becomes a “must see” and “bucket list” item for travellers and explorers.”
The New7Wonders Foundation, which is based in Switzerland and regulated under Swiss law, has confirmed that Table Mountain’s “provisional” status after international voting closed on 11 November 2011 has been changed to “official”. Hundreds of millions of votes had been cast for 28 finalists across the world and all of these numbers had to be verified.
“We will now start planning for the official inaugural event later this year. An impressive commemorative plaque will be officially presented by the New7Wonders Foundation. Table Mountain is unique amongst the Seven Wonders in that it is in the heart of the city. The others are a distance away from main centres. Table Mountain is a marvel of history, geology, bio-diversity and it even has a stellar constellation named after it,” the Mayor said.
The other six wonders are the Amazon forest in South America, Halong Bay in Vietnam, the Iguazu Falls in Brazil and Argentina, Jeju Island in South Korea, Komodo Island in Indonesia and the Puerto Princesa underground river in the Philippines.
“I want to thank all the people of Cape Town, South Africa, Africa and those across the world who voted for Table Mountain. Many media channels in South Africa were generous in their support for the campaign. Table Mountain and The City of Cape Town thank you, baie dankie, enkosi kakhulu. The City will work closely with the South African National Parks (SANParks). They are responsible for managing Table Mountain as one of our country’s national parks,” said Mayor De Lille.
The Official Supporters Committee (OSC) started the Vote for Table Mountain campaign three years ago at the first of three rounds of voting. They approached the City of Cape Town for support in the final round of 28 when the campaign needed a major thrust. The City, through its Communication and Tourism Departments, launched a high-impact, high visibility campaign “Seven Weeks to Seven Wonders” for the final, decisive victory push.
“I thank the Committee and the City team for their successful campaign and acknowledge the chairperson, Ms. Sabine Lehmann, and Mr. Frans Stroebel for leading this campaign,” said Mayor De Lille.
Sabine Lehmann, chairperson of the Table Mountain official supporters committee, said the official confirmation would provide a significant boost to the South African tourism industry.
“Visitor numbers to Table Mountain reached record numbers after the mountain was named on the provisional list of seven sites on 11 November 2011, and we expect the official confirmation to further boost visitor interest locally and abroad,” Lehmann said.
Gary de Kock, regional general manager of SANParks, said, “we value that this award recognises SANParks’ significant investment in the natural heritage of this beautiful mountain chain and that conservation adds value to the tourism economy.”
