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Beautiful Landscape

LEADING PLACES:
THE 100 MOST LOVED TRAVEL DESTINATIONS
AROUND THE WORLD

RANKED BY CONSUMER SENTIMENT FROM 2021

DISCOVER THE RANKINGS, POWERED BY
TOURISM SENTIMENT INDEX

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In January 2022, for the first time ever, destinations around the world were ranked to uncover those that are truly most loved.

 

These Leading Places are the 100 most loved destinations, based on annual data from 2021, according to what people really feel. No one paid to be named. No surveys suggested an answer. Word of mouth built this list, unprompted and unbiased. Each of these 100 destinations earned the love and an impressive Tourism Sentiment Score® during one of the toughest years the tourism industry has faced.

To be able to name the top 100, we kicked off 2022 with an intensive study of our Tourism Sentiment Index data -- that's 1.6 billion online conversations and content pieces publicly available about 21,330 global destinations. Tourism Sentiment Index is cutting-edge technology that applies the power of artificial intelligence to the challenge of deciphering sentiment from human expression.

Our technology in the hands of our talented data scientists has brought to life a novel metric for destination marketing: Tourism Sentiment Score®. This is the metric that the tourism industry has been missing since the dawn of the internet. This score is the result of our methodology refined over the years to best scan and interpret sentiment from massive volumes of content about travel. It has been purpose-built for tourism.

 

These are the 100 Most Loved Destinations, having earned the highest Tourism Sentiment Score®.

 

Being able to bring you these unprecedented findings is thanks to the hundreds of destinations that subscribe to Tourism Sentiment Index and the thousands of comparative destinations that we analyze to help our customers understand their performance. Our work with customers is amassing a continuously expanding dataset within Tourism Sentiment Index. That wealth of data makes this, to our knowledge, the most in-depth study of its kind.

COUNTING DOWN THE 100 MOST LOVED DESTINATIONS

100.

Antwerp, Flanders
Belgium

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

23.52

Segment: Cities and towns

99.

Shuswap, British Columbia
Canada

Tourism
Sentiment
Score®

23.55

Segment: Regions

97.

Canmore, Alberta
Canada

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

23.59

Segment: Cities and towns

95.

Palm Springs, California
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

23.63

Segment: Cities and towns

93.

Istanbul
Turkey

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

23.89

Segment: Cities and towns

91.

Montego Bay, St. James
Jamaica

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.06

Segment: Cities and towns

89.

Nashville, Tennessee
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.09

Segment: Cities and towns

87.

Ballarat, Victoria
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.18

Segment: Cities and towns

85.

Albany, Western Australia
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.21

Segment: Cities and towns

84.

Breckenridge, Colorado
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.24

Segment: Cities and towns

82.

Colorado Springs, Colorado
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.26

Segment: Cities and towns

80.

Tampa, Florida
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.42

Segment: Cities and towns

78.

Ayr, Scotland
United Kingdom

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.46

Segment: Cities and towns

78.

Leeds, England
United Kingdom

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.46

Segment: Cities and towns

76.

Blue Mountains, New South Wales
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.50

Segment: Cities and towns

74.

Fremantle, Western Australia
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.53

Segment: Cities and towns

72.

Laguna Beach, California
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.78

Segment: Cities and towns

70.

Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg
Germany

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.06

Segment: Cities and towns

68.

Napa, California
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.14

Segment: Regions

66.

Dubai
United Arab Emirates

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.24

Segment: Cities and towns

64.

West Yellowstone, Montana
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.35

Segment: Cities and towns

62.

Gold Coast, Queensland
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.53

Segment: Regions

60.

Ibiza, Balearic Islands
Spain

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.73

Segment: Regions

58.

Redlands Coast, Queensland
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.75

Segment: Regions

56.

Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.14

Segment: Cities and towns

54.

Pembrokeshre, Wales
United Kingdom

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.24

Segment: Cities and towns

53.

Budapest
Hungary

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.33

Segment: Cities and towns

51.

Aspen, Colorado
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.45

Segment: Cities and towns

49.

Bordeaux
France

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.73

Segment: Regions

47.

Austin, Texas
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.95

Segment: Cities and towns

45.

East Lothian, Scotland
United Kingdom

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

27.06

Segment: Cities and towns

43.

Lake District, England
United Kingdom

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

27.51

Segment: Regions

41.

Hermanus, Western Cape
South Africa

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

27.65

Segment: Cities and towns

39.

Sedona, Arizona
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

27.98

Segment: Cities and towns

37.

Margaret River, Western Australia
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.07

Segment: Cities and towns

35.

Scottsdale, Arizona
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.14

Segment: Cities and towns

33.

Moorea
French Polynesia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.32

Segment: Cities and towns

31.

Hurghada, Red Sea
Egypt

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.44

Segment: Cities and towns

29.

Cornwall, England
United Kingdom

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.66

Segment: Cities and towns

27.

Destin, Florida
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.90

Segment: Cities and towns

25.

Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

29.15

Segment: Regions

23.

Stellenbosch, Western Cape
South Africa

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

29.31

Segment: Cities and towns

21.

Esperance, Western Australia
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

29.57

Segment: Cities and towns

19.

Knysna, Western Cape
South Africa

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

30.23

Segment: Cities and towns

17.

Gippsland, Victoria
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

30.66

Segment: Cities and towns

15.

Port Douglas, Queensland
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

30.78

Segment: Cities and towns

13.

Tulum, Yucatan
Mexico

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

31.80

Segment: Cities and towns

11.

Zanzibar
Tanzania

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

32.27

Segment: Cities and towns

09.

Cairns, Queensland
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

32.69

Segment: Cities and towns

07.

Punta Cana, La Altagracia
Dominican Republic

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

34.28

Segment: Cities and towns

05.

Noosa, Queensland
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

35.41

Segment: Cities and towns

03.

Udaipur, Rajasthan
India

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

37.72

Segment: Cities and towns

100.

Pensacola, Florida
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

23.52

Segment: Cities and towns

98.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

23.57

Segment: Cities and towns

96.

Kelowna, British Columbia
Canada

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

23.60

Segment: Cities and towns

94.

Shoalhaven, New South Wales
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

23.74

Segment: Cities and towns

92.

Bergen, Hordaland
Norway

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

23.94

Segment: Cities and towns

90.

Barossa, South Australia
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.08

Segment: Regions

88.

Cheshire, England
United Kingdom

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.17

Segment: Regions

86.

Great Ocean Road, Victoria
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.19

Segment: Regions

85.

Dubrovnik
Croatia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.21

Segment: Cities and towns

83.

Port Lincoln, South Australia
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.25

Segment: Cities and towns

81.

Rotorua, North Island
New Zealand

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.35

Segment: Cities and towns

79.

Big Bear Lake, California
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.43

Segment: Cities and towns

78.

Park City, Utah
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.46

Segment: Cities and towns

77.

Mackay, Queensland
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.49

Segment: Cities and towns

75.

Adelaide, South Australia
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.52

Segment: Cities and towns

73.

Pretoria, Gauteng
South Africa

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.77

Segment: Cities and towns

71.

Cumbria, England
United Kingdom

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

24.96

Segment: Regions

69.

Geelong, Victoria
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.11

Segment: Cities and towns

67.

Isle of Wight, England
United Kingdom

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.22

Segment: Regions

65.

McAllen, Texas
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.27

Segment: Cities and towns

63.

San Antonio, Texas
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.48

Segment: Cities and towns

61.

Bundaberg, Queensland
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.66

Segment: Cities and towns

59.

Kochi
Japan

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.74

Segment: Cities and towns

57.

Charleston, South Carolina
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

25.86

Segment: Cities and towns

55.

Key West, Florida
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.19

Segment: Cities and towns

54.

Cape Town, Western Cape
South Africa

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.24

Segment: Cities and towns

52.

Phuket
Thailand

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.43

Segment: Regions

50.

Scenic Rim, Queensland
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.70

Segment: Regions

48.

McLaren Vale, South Australia
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.89

Segment: Regions

46.

Dallas, Texas
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

26.96

Segment: Cities and towns

44.

Queenstown, Otago
New Zealand

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

27.28

Segment: Cities and towns

42.

Mississauga, Ontario
Canada

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

27.58

Segment: Cities and towns

40.

Hunter Valley, New South Wales
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

27.89

Segment: Cities and towns

38.

Yarra Valley, Victoria
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.00

Segment: Cities and towns

36.

Durango, Colorado
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.10

Segment: Cities and towns

34.

Richmond, British Columbia
Canada

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.30

Segment: Cities and towns

32.

Las Vegas, Nevada
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.34

Segment: Cities and towns

30.

Asheville, North Carolina
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.54

Segment: Cities and towns

28.

Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.76

Segment: Regions

26.

Oxnard, California
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

28.96

Segment: Cities and towns

24.

Aqaba
Jordan

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

29.30

Segment: Cities and towns

22.

Port Stephens, New South Wales
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

29.38

Segment: Cities and towns

20.

Havana, La Habana
Cuba

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

29.68

Segment: Cities and towns

18.

Goa, Bicol
Philippines

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

30.28

Segment: Cities and towns

16.

Broome, Western Australia
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

30.77

Segment: Cities and towns

14.

Savannah, Georgia
United States

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

31.03

Segment: Cities and towns

12.

Kilimanjaro
Tanzania

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

31.81

Segment: Cities and towns

10.

Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco
Mexico

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

32.42

Segment: Cities and towns

08.

Cancun, Quintana Roo
Mexico

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

32.93

Segment: Cities and towns

06.

Nice, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur
France

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

34.96

Segment: Cities and towns

04.

Bora Bora
French Polynesia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

37.36

Segment: Cities and towns

02.

Whitsundays, Queensland
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

37.76

Segment: Regions

01.

Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Australia

Tourism

Sentiment

Score®

37.90

We celebrate the Leading Places named here and all the destinations around the world striving to make the experiences and exchanges that travel can bring rewarding for everyone.

 

We salute every destination organization working to help local communities navigate the pandemic safely and address the many other challenges that our world is facing.

We look forward to supporting many of you in 2022.

Segment: Regions

ABOUT LEADING PLACES

Leading Places are destinations that strive to be their best for residents, for visitors and for the parts of the world that they cover. The future of tourism needs Leading Places that make travel experiences rewarding and responsible in equal measure. We celebrate the Leading Places pursuing innovative, effective and thoughtful destination marketing and destination management. We provide data products to destination marketing organizations to help their progress towards being recognized by real people as Leading Places. We strive to support the tourism industry by publicly sharing what we can learn from Leading Places through the 100 Most Loved Destinations, posts on LinkedIn and tweets on Twitter.

places

To calculate the score, we collect all the conversations and content around a destination and, through natural language processing, filter to those that are driven by a destination’s tourism experiences or products. The remaining data is classified as positive, neutral or negative as artificial intelligence deciphers sentiment from human expression.

Our customers use the Tourism Sentiment Score® to gauge current performance and to establish a benchmark to track over time. It is a reflection of each destination’s tourism industry, featuring an overall score and scores for up to 50 tourism assets that cover every known aspect of the travel experience (transportation, accommodation, attractions, events, etc.).

We uncovered the 100 Most Loved Destinations by using the methodology of Tourism Sentiment Index to review the destinations in our database.

 

Every day, Tourism Sentiment Index gathers more than 2 million pieces of content posted publicly online about global destinations of every level: countries, states, provinces, islands, cities, towns, regions and major parks. Our proprietary analysis produces a destination’s Tourism Sentiment Score®.

 

Tourism Sentiment Score® is a measure of a destination’s ability to generate positive word of mouth about its tourism offering. It is an aggregate score that focuses solely on online conversations and content that reference or affect a potential traveller’s perceptions of a destination’s tourism offering.

METHODOLOGY FOR THIS STUDY

methodology
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