So, this is interesting. A new study called the Tourism Sentiment Index has looked at the “most loved” destinations around the world, and it’s not at all what you might expect.
Richmond, British Columbia was the top Canadian destination listed, coming 34th overall. Mississauga, Ontario was 42nd in the world and finished second in Canada.
The company, which is based in Vancouver, said its findings were “drawn from more than 1.6 billion online conversations and content pieces publicly available about 21,330 global destinations.”
“Our work with destinations is amassing a continuously expanding dataset within Tourism Sentiment Index,” the group said in a press release. “That wealth of data makes this, to our knowledge, the most in-depth study of its kind, and completely unique for the tourism industry.”
Note that this doesn’t appear to be based on Instagram mentions or actual visitor numbers, but, at least in part, on online conversations.
Company spokesman Adam Nagy told me that the study’s methodology (see more on their site) “focused on an analysis of online posts about travel. Posts can be categorized as positive, neutral or negative and are ultimately calculated as the Tourism Sentiment Score®. The 100 destinations with the most positivity are in this list. And there are some surprises. While all destinations are not the same, every destination can have its own reasons to be loved – an attraction, a hotel, a service, a view.
It sounds to me like “online conversations” could point to a certain amount of community pride, versus, “these are the places in the world everyone goes to and posts photos of.”
If you go to the main page with the details, you’ll find that 30 of the top 100 are in Australia, which shows maybe that locked-up Aussies have spent the last two years engaged in a monstrous number of on-line conversations about which is the best destination Down Under.
I find it very refreshing that it’s not all the usual suspects. If you look at the list, you’ll find Sydney and Scottsdale, as well as Bora Bora and Cancun. But you won’t see San Francisco or Vancouver or Paris or Buenos Aires.
Like I said, kinda refreshing.
Here’s the top 10, along with the five Canadian entries and the U.S. destinations on the list. Note that British Columbia has three entries of the five Canadian places listed. In the U.S. California has five, Texas has four, Colorado has four and Florida has four.
Brueckner Rhododendron Garden, Mississauga. JIM BYERS PHOTO
- Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. Tourism Sentiment Score: 37.90
2. Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia. Tourism Sentiment Score: 37.76
3. Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. Tourism Sentiment Score: 37.72
4. Bora Bora, Tahiti, French Polynesia. Tourism Sentiment Score: 37.36
5. Noosa, Queensland, Australia. Tourism Sentiment Score: 35.41
6. Nice, France. Tourism Sentiment Score: 34.96
7. Punta Cana, Dominica Republic. Tourism Sentiment Score: 34.28
8. Cancun, Mexico. Tourism Sentiment Score: 32.93
9. Cairns, Queensland, Australia, 32.69
10. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 32.42
CANADIAN DESTINATIONS
Richmond, B.C. Tourism Sentiment Score: 28.30 (34th in the world)
Mississauga, Ontario. Tourism Sentiment Score: 27.58 (42nd)
Kelowna, B.C. Tourism Sentiment Score: 23.60 (96th)
Canmore, Alberta. Tourism Sentiment Score: 23.59 (97th)
Shuswap, B.C. Tourism Sentiment Score: 23.55 (99th)
The Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, just south of Palm Springs. JIM BYERS PHOTO
U.S. DESTINATIONS
Savannah, Georgia. Tourism Sentiment Score: 31.03. (14th in the world)
Oxnard, California. Tourism Sentiment Score: 28.96 (26th)
Destin, Florida. Tourism Sentiment Score: 28.90 (27th)
Asheville, North Carolina. Tourism Sentiment Score: 28.54 (30th)
Las Vegas, Nevada. Tourism Sentiment Score: 28.34 (32nd)
Scottsdale, Arizona. Tourism Sentiment Score: 28.14 (35th)
Durango, Colorado. Tourism Sentiment Score: 28.10 (36th)
Sedona, Arizona. Tourism Sentiment Score: 27.98 (39th)
Dallas, Texas. Tourism Sentiment Score: 26.96 (46th)
Austin, Texas. Tourism Sentiment Score: 26.95 (47th)
Aspen, Colorado. Tourism Sentiment Score: 26.45 (51st)
Key West, Florida. Tourism Sentiment Score: 26.19 (55th)
Charleston, South Carolina. Tourism Sentiment Score: 25.86 (57th)
San Antonio, Texas. Tourism Sentiment Score: 25.48 (63rd)
West Yellowstone, Montana. Tourism Sentiment Score: 25.35 (64th)
McAllen, Texas. Tourism Sentiment Score: 25.27 (65th)
Napa, California. Tourism Sentiment Score: 25.14 (68th)
Laguna Beach, California. Tourism Sentiment Score: 24.78 (72nd)
Park City, Utah. Tourism Sentiment Score: 24.46 (78th)
Big Bear Lake, California. Tourism Sentiment Score: 24.43 (79th)
Tampa, Florida. Tourism Sentiment Score: 24.42 (80th)
Colorado Springs, Colorado. Tourism Sentiment Score: 24.26 (82nd)
Breckenridge, Colorado. Tourism Sentiment Score: 24.24 (84th)
Nashville, Tennessee. Tourism Sentiment Score: 24.09 (89th)
Palm Springs, California. Tourism Sentiment Score: 23.63 (95th)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Tourism Sentiment Score: 23.57 (98th)
Pensacola, Florida. .Tourism Sentiment Score: 23.52 (tie for 100th with Antwerp, Belgium)
