I’m not sure if you know, but the World Travel & Tourism Council is calling the World to propose landmarks in order to create a new list of 7 Contemporary Wonders of the World. 
Even though the calling is open and voluntary to whoever wants to participate, I strongly believe that Local Guides have a vision that not everyone has 
and that makes our proposals important and special. Stay with me and I’ll tell you why. 
In this post you’ll find:
- The Call
- Why it matters
- Why Local Guides’ profile is perfect for this mission
- Conclusion
The Call
The calling association, The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), is formed by leaders of the most important travel & tourism private companies worldwide. The intention of this group of Tourism experts is to celebrate 19th, 20th and 21st century (contemporary) monuments, as stated on their website:
This is a campaign for what humanity has built since 1801: the landmarks, buildings and destinations of the modern era, imagined by engineers, artists and dreamers using the boldest tools of their time.
This one would join other previously made rankings such as:
- Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
- New Seven Wonders of the World
- Seven Natural Wonders of the World
The selection will have four stages: gathering proposals from the world, getting a longlist, public voting to create a shortlist and finally having the 7 Contemporary Wonders chosen. As for the eligible landmarks, WTTC established :
What Makes a Contemporary Wonder?
- Made by human hands: landmarks, buildings, institutions, resorts.
- Born of the modern era: built from 1801 to today.
- A force for its place: it draws the world, responsibly, and creates opportunity where it stands.
- Open to discovery: the celebrated and the not-yet-celebrated alike.
Why this matters.
Being considered any kind of “Wonder of the World” can change everything for a landmark and therefore for the people who work for that touristic spot and for the locals living around that touristic spot. 
Even though every place has something special, a place named “Wonder of the World” will be automatically highlighted in everyone’s mind and will at least raise some curiosity among people who become potential visitors. 
Then this curiosity can bring enough revenues 
to boost the local economy and even for local governments to pay attention to the place and add infrastructure that might improve locals’ lives as well. So everyone wins! Both visitors and locals. 
However, it’s not just about suggesting places just because they’re nice, modern or big: it’s about making sure that this place we propose will give the millions of new visitors the best experience possible. 
Why Local Guides’ profile is perfect for this mission
Even though anyone is free to propose candidate landmarks and vote them, I strongly believe that this mission perfectly fits the Local Guides’ knowledge and experience for these reasons:
Local Guides are passionate travelers, therefore we have seen and reviewed a lot of places and landmarks. I’m sure most of us have been amazed by at least one or two of them and we have a lot of experience in exploring places.
Local Guides who can’t travel are still curious to explore whatever place or landmark they can reach, and curious enough to research about far far away places as well. So our experience is equally valuable.
As humans, we can notice how much good certain places have done to the world or the local community. It highlights culture? provides education? protects the environment? 
Besides the fact of knowing places, most Local Guides have developed an analytical way to evaluate a place. Our opinion might not just be “it’s a nice place to visit” or “it’s huge”… we are more likely to say:
- Which advantages the place has.
- If the place is adequate for all kinds of public or just a specific niche (adults, children, etc)
- If it is friendly to tourists of any preference or need (LGBT+
, accessibility 
, pet owners 
, alimentary intolerants, etc) - If the place is well managed and the employees are kind
- In how many languages the info is available
- If there are any culturally different yet unwritten guidelines that should be taken into consideration (e.g. places considered sacred, specific dressing code, etc).
- In a nutshell: our analysis of the experience in that place is way more comprehensive than people who just go, enjoy it for a while and take a nice picture.
Conclusion
Local Guides have helped their communities in quite many and amazing ways so far. 
With those super analyzing powers that we have developed, I’m sure that our proposals to the 7 Contemporary Wonders will be informed ones and that any landmark or place we propose as a candidate to “Contemporary Wonder of the World” is warranted to give the future tourists an unforgettable experience. 
So, what do you think? Do you agree with me? Maybe you can add some more reasons to this list. 
And the most important: will you join the mission? When you are done thinking of good candidates and analysing good reasons why they should be considered “Wonders of the World”, you can submit your proposed landmarks in their website here 
. I’m still thinking of mine!! 
hehehe
I hope this reflection encourages a lot of people to participate or at least to think about the mission we carry out in every single review we write. See you soon! 
#mq1k
