The announcement was made on January 7 on the New 7 Wonders’ (N7W) website. To earn the elusive status, 261 national and international sites will vie to make it into the top 77.

The Mekong River, which flows China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar was nominated by six countries.

Voting will go on until July 7, 2009. Finalists will be chosen by the N7W Panel of Experts for short listing.

Twenty-one sites will be chosen in July 2009 to go forward to the next stage of voting.

The final voting stage will take place between 2010 and 2011. During this time, the N7W World Tour will visit all 21 sites. The N7W of Nature will be unveiled in the summer of 2011.

During the first phase of the campaign, which ran from July 2007 to December 31, 2008, three of Vietnam’s tourist hot spots were nominated, including Halong Bay, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and Fansipan Mountain.