Bay of Fundy seeks tide of tourists

An international competition among some of the world's natural wonders could help generate tourism dollars for Canada's Bay of Fundy.

Canada's Bay of Fundy is going up against likes of the Amazon rainforest, the Galapagos Islands, Mount Kilimanjaro and the Grand Canyon in the New 7 Wonders of Nature contest.

Earlier online votes whittled 441 nominees down to 28 finalists and now the contest organizers are asking people from around the world to vote again for the top seven finalists.

This week the focus is on the Bay of Fundy and its 15-metre high tides — the highest in the world — and the remarkable stone shapes carved by the water.

Jean-Paul de la Fuente, a director with the Swiss-based non-profit foundation, said the group's original man-made wonders contest was big, but this second instalment focusing on natural wonders will be much larger in terms of economic possibilities from tourism.

Terri McCulloch, the executive director of Bay of Fundy Tourism, has has been spearheading Canada's entry.

She said she doesn't know what the chances of the Bay of Fundy are for winning, but she does know the world's highest tides are something unique.

"We just thought we had something beautiful, something extraordinary, something that deserved to be seen and recognized by more people around the world," she said.

The winners of the competition will be announced in November 2011.

The Bay of Fundy just managed to squeak in to the global competition. It had been topped by Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park, but the park was disqualified in June for not meeting the contest requirements, allowing the Bay of Fundy to get back into the contest.