As the sun rises over the eastern shores of the tiny Polynesian island of Rapa Nui, the shadows of 15 stone monoliths stretch long across the grassy fields of Tongariki, towards the quarry from which they were mysteriously transported hundreds of years ago.

In the town of Hanga Roa, on the other side of Rapa Nui, commonly known as Easter Island, people are arguing about what effect there will be on the island after it was nominated as one of the new seven wonders of the world in a New 7 Wonders contest - a popular global competition to select the world's seven most awe-inspiring sites.

The argument centres on concern that even though it missed out on selection, just being nominated among the front runners could have unfortunate results for this fragile island.

More than 100 million people have voted by internet, phone and mail to select a new set of modern wonders from a list of 20 finalists, pared down from more than 200 nominations by a team of experts over a selection process that began in 2000.

Easter Island was in the top 10 in every round of preliminary results, but missed out on being named in the final seven.

Located some 7000km from Auckland and more than 3700km from its political centre in Chile, Rapa Nui is the most remote inhabited island in the world.

Despite the distance and its small size (166sq km), its tourism has doubled in the past three years alone - from 22,000 tourists in 2003 to about 50,000 last year.

The New 7 Wonders nomination certainly boosted the island's visibility.

"To be honest, we didn't know much about the island or its culture," admits Argentine tourist Augustin Amoretti, watching a Kari Kari ballet show.

"We only knew about the Moai [the large stone statues] and the fact that it was nominated to be one of the seven wonders of the world."

He said he had hoped Easter Island would be selected.

Tourism accounts for 80 per cent of the island's income, so many see a contest that would help to promote tourism even further as a godsend.

Before the voting finished, Fatima Hotus Hey, a librarian at the island's only public library said: "We, as Rapa Nui, wanted to be among the 7 Wonders because it will make us even more famous than we already are, and that will bring us even more tourists from around the world."