The most popular Aussie attractions on social media

Australia has countless beautiful places to visit. But which are the most visited? The most loved?

iVenture Card ran the numbers to find out which of the top 100 attractions and landmarks in Australia lived up to their hype in the sightseeing manuals by calculating how often people posted about them on social media.

And the results are in! Sydney takes the cake!

This fresh data states that you’re more likely to publish a photo of Bondi Beach on social media over any other attraction in Australia. In fact New South Wales dominates the list, with seven out of 10 of the top attractions and places.

Here are the top ten:

1. Bondi Beach – NSW

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUxY1uDFVLW/

2. Great Ocean Road – VIC

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPMpwr7ga9W/?taken-by=greatoceanroad

3. Blue Mountains – NSW

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUSnGeLFKlY/?taken-by=melissafindley

4. Sydney Opera House – NSW

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUwQ-oZgy80/?tagged=sydneyoperahouse

5. Great Barrier Reef – QLD

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUsFRsNB2Y1/?tagged=greatbarrierreef

6. Whitsundays – QLD

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQq0JfPDEE0/

7. Darling Harbour – NSW

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUwbu7gAI7B/

8. Hunter Valley – NSW

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTqVl3nAeJx/?taken-by=visitnsw

9. Sydney Harbour Bridge – NSW

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSxMGeUAmCA/?taken-by=danzphotography

10. Manly Beach – NSW

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTsogy5FAP9/?taken-by=manlybeachaustralia

The results shone a light on tourist hotspots that performed well and those that didn’t – revealing both the expected and the unexpected. Here’s a summary of the results:

There are over 800,000 tagged photos of Bondi Beach, making it the most talked about Australian attraction on social media.
The Great Ocean Road was the second highest, which racked up just over 650,000 tags.
New South Wales dominates the list of most popular attractions by a landslide – with seven of the top 10 attractions on social media.
In Victoria, Yarra River (124k), Melbourne Zoo (93k) and St Kilda Beach (87k) also made the top 20.
Two major places of interest represent Queensland: Great Barrier Reef and Whitsundays which account for almost 800,000 social tags to date.
Other notable landmarks for OLD on social media are Broadbeach (144k) and Burleigh Heads (128k).
Perth and West Coast tourist attractions that featured in the top 20 are: Kings Park (157k), Rottnest Island (112k) and Swan Valley (77k). Rottnest has made just as big an impact on social media despite claiming only 600,000k visitors per year.
South Australia’s Barossa Valley (77k) and Adelaide Oval (60k) also made the list as did Cradle Mountain (62k) and Mount Wellington (27k) of Tasmania. Neither one of the above attractions made the top 20 list.
The most surprising absentee within the top performers is Uluru, or Ayers Rock. There are currently over 72,000 Instagram hashtags for this spiritual haven and monumental natural landmark. Visits have declined rapidly over the course of ten years although the jewel of the Red Centre remains one of the most iconic images in travel.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Australian tourism new south wales social media sydney