With the Sunderbans voted out of the race for the 'New Seven Wonders of Nature', tourism industry insiders say the world's single largest block of mangrove forests may have lost a golden opportunity to become a global destination for wildlife tourism.

Sunderbans, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is the single largest block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest shared by India (West Bengal) and Bangladesh. Nearly 60 per cent of it is with Bangladesh and the rest with India.

It was voted out of the provisional list of the 'New Seven Wonders of Nature' based on the first count of vote results Nov 11. This has led to frustration among the people of West Bengal, including travel agents who say it would have helped the Sunderbans push up its tourist numbers way beyond the current 150,000.

"It's really unfortunate for both Bengal and India. Sunderbans making it to the new seven wonders list would have opened new gates for the influx of foreign tourists in the state," state Forest Minister Hiten Burman said.

"It would have been a hotspot for wildlife tourism on the world map," he added.

Said Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) chairman-eastern chapter Anil Punjabi: "It's indeed not good in terms of the tourism business."

"The rush of foreign tourists would have increased if Sunderbans was voted one of the new seven wonders of nature. The economy of the area would have got a heavy boost," he added.

The New 7 Wonders of Nature was a project undertaken by Canadian-Swiss Bernard Weber to make a list of seven natural wonders selected by people across the world through a worldwide poll.

The criterion was that the site was to be "a clearly defined natural site or natural monument" that was not created or significantly altered by humans for aesthetic reasons. The initiative was started in 2007 and attracted 100 million votes from around the world.

Sunderbans was the only Indian entry in the final list of 28 that included the Grand Canyon of the US, the Amazon of Brazil, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the Halong Bay of Vietnamand other natural sites.

The case of Sunderbans - home to a number of rare species of birds and animals, including the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger - was also diplomatically important as it had brought India and Bangladesh together.

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