Bay of Fundy scores big in Canadian Seven Wonders

It was neck and neck there for a while, but The Bay of Fundy is now out of the loop for the International Seven Wonders of Nature contest. However, the region has still come out on top.

It was announced Wednesday, Jan. 7, that the Bay of Fundy placed second out of five Canadian sites competing for the top spot in phase one. First place went to Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta.

Although it wasn’t the win they were hoping for, Bay of Fundy Tourism Partnership manager Terri McCulloch says coming in a close second says a lot about this region.

Maritimers, she noted, rallied throughout Canada in support of Bay of Fundy through a network of friends, family and colleagues, and by the support of the media. “It was absolutely thrilling to see how excited folks in our region are about our own natural attractions like Bay of Fundy. We very much appreciate their enthusiasm and support.”

When contest wrapped up Dec 31, McCulloch said, Fundy was sitting in the top quarter of all nature tourism destinations in the world. “That’s an extraordinary feat for our small region.”

Although Fundy will not move on to the next level of the contest, the experience itself has helped to make it a winner on many levels. “During the past six months in the contest, our region experienced national and international exposure though the global New7Wonders website, our myfundy.com site, and extensive media coverage that we would never have seen without the nomination.”

McCulloch said promoting the Bay of Fundy region was always their primary goal. “The objective for us was to raise awareness to the area of the Bay of Fundy and we’ve done that,” she said.

“The contest provided us with a golden opportunity to promote the Bay of Fundy outside of the Maritimes; allowing us to educate the world about the beautiful and breathtaking natural region we have right here.”

During her announcement to the Bay of Fundy from Switzerland the morning of Jan. 7, New7Wonders spokesperson Nadja Rahal commended the My Fundy team. “You have already done a great job to highlight and promote the Bay of Fundy to the Worldwide New7Wonders audience.”

The next contest milestone will be July 7, when the top 77 sties in the world will be identified. Then the New7Wonders of Nature panel of experts will choose 21 finalists. Voting for the top seven will resume and continue throughout 2010 with the final declaration of the New7Wonders of Nature in 2011.

McCulloch said she is happy with their standing and the phenomenal response from schools, businesses and Maritimers all over the world. “This has been a great experience and we can’t let the second place finish negate that.”

The Bay of Fundy is best known for having the highest tides in the world, rare whales, international bird migrations, international geology and fossils, biodiversity comparable to the Amazon Rainforest, Fundy’s two new UNESCO sites, and best international site for tidal power potential.

For further information about the Bay of Fundy, visit www.bayoffundytourism.com.