The Tourism Ministry is currently approaching leading Israeli companies with the opportunity to take part in the campaign to select the Dead Sea as one of the "New 7 Wonders of Nature" in internet and mobile-phone voting between now and 2011. According to a ministry announcement, up to seven official sponsors from each country will pay about a million dollars each for the commercial sponsorship. The sponsoring company will be exposed to new markets in Israel and particularly abroad, with the number of total voters estimated to reach one billion people.
Pini Shani of the Tourism Ministry noted that “according to the New 7 Wonders foundation’s statistics, the previous campaign, in which ‘only’ 100 million people voted, represented a commercial value of $5m for the winning sites, increased consumer recognition to about 90%, generated a 20-fold increase in editorial coverage and a 7-fold increase in TV coverage and a 6% increase in market share.”