In a ranking of the top 100 travel destinations across the globe, Australia had four locations that showed out in the top ten.
The Tourist Sentiment Index has recently announced its list of the 100 ‘most loved’ travel destinations from around the world, and it’s exciting news for Australia as four of its locations have made it to the top 10. The Whitsunday Islands in Queensland took second place, closely following the Maldives in first place. The Sunshine Coast, Cairns in Queensland, and Yarra Valley in Victoria rounded out the top 10.
The top 100 destinations were determined by the highest Tourist Sentiment Score, which was calculated using data from 1.6 billion online conversations and posts from travelers all over the world about their experiences. The Whitsundays scored an impressive 37.64 out of 50 for its breathtaking beaches, clear blue waters, and lush tropical forests.
It’s important to note that while the data used in this study was pulled from all around the world, the conversations it processed were primarily in English. So, this list will be slanted as such. On the Tourism Sentiment Index‘s website, it is explained the natural language processing that they are using has not made significant enough improvements beyond English as of this list. Perhaps future lists will incorporate other languages more thoroughly.
This is very evident on the list as 64 out of the 100 locations are in the US, UK, Australia, or Canada. It becomes especially obvious when places such as Dallas can be found ranked on the list, coming in at number 56. Dallas is notorious for being extremely highway centric, with massive 8+ lane interstates carving up the city’s various districts, making it very hard to walk anywhere in the city.
As an American who has spent time in Dallas and many of the other US locations on this list, I found their ranking to be befuddling at the least. Especially when you consider that no locations from Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and many other countries are nowhere to be found in the top 100. I’m sorry but Tokyo was snubbed.
With few exceptions(primarily locations in South Africa), the entire continents of South America and Africa are essentially non-existent on this list. The two continents combine for only six spots on this list, with three of those spots coming from South Africa, which was famously an apartheid state for over 45 years, with holdouts such as Orania still remaining today.
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With all of that covered, let’s get back to this extremely westernized list that a primarily English-speaking AI model put together for us! 😀
The Sunshine Coast, with its top asset being its stunning beaches, scored 36.96 and came in third place. With over 3.2 million visitors a year, the Sunshine Coast’s popularity boosted it into the top 3.
Victoria’s Yarra Valley, known for its wineries and vineyards, took fifth place with 36.18 points. The back roads of the Yarra Valley are also home to some of the world’s best wineries, and hot air ballooning is a popular activity.
Its long winding roads through deep green forests and towering trees make it a perfect road trip destination for the keenest of drivers. In fact, you probably have to be one of the top three most keen drivers in the world to really enjoy those long winding roads so if you don’t make the cut, don’t even bother.
Cairns, known as the gateway to Australia’s world-famous Great Barrier Reef, took ninth place with a score of 33.98. Diving and snorkeling are listed as its top assets, and travelers flock to the town to experience the wonder of the World Heritage-Listed reef. With over three million tourists a year, Cairns has a range of luxury hotels and stays, as well as waterfalls, forests, and walking trails to explore inland.
Other notable destinations in Australia that made it to the Tourist Sentiment Index’s top 100 list include Byron Bay, Magnetic Island in Queensland, South Australia’s Barossa Valley, and Port Douglas the Daintree.
The writer used AI tools to publish part of this article. The Brag Media relies on journalists to fact check & edit all articles regardless of any AI tools used.
