The most Instagrammed spot in South Africa

Online travel group, TravelBird, has released a list of the most Instagrammed tourist destinations in the world – with only one South African spot making it into the list of the top 500.
The list was determined by using popular photo-sharing app, Instagram’s API, and sniffing out which locations drew the most hashtags in the local language, as well as translations into English and other languages.
According to TravelBird, phrases and tag-lines associated with specific tourist destinations were also included (such as #TheHappiestPlaceOnEarth for Disneyland), but common terms were excluded (such as #Disney, which is related, but not specifically about Disneyland.
South Africa’s most popular tourist destination is the Kruger National Park, according to the rankings – which ranked 49th in the world with 410,763 tags, above Cedar Point, Ohio USA, and just below Anfield, in North West England.
The Kruger Park is the most well-known game reserve in South Africa, and one of the largest national parks in Africa.
While the Kruger Park is the only destination pulled from the Instagram API by TravelBird, it is worth noting that Instagram’s live data shows that #CapeTown remains one of the most tagged destinations, with over 5 million tags.
Because of its broad use (it is a city), it likely did not qualify – however, a well-known tourist destination linked to the city, #TableMountain, has over 500,000 tags, which would place it above the Kruger Park in the rankings.
TravelBird said that its Instagram barometer was a good indication of places where ‘millenials’ are travelling to, with half of the top 10 destinations in the world being in the USA.
Disneyland in California is the top-tagged destination in the world by some margin, with 14.6 million tags on the site – more than double the tags in the second-best destination, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, with 7.2 million tags.
Disney World in Florida USA ranked as the third most popular destination, followed by the South Beach in the same state, and the Berlin Wall in Germany completing the top 5.
Below is a list of the top 15 tourist destinations in the world by Instagram tags – you can find the full list here.
# | Attraction | Region | Country | Tags |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Disneyland | California | USA | 14 615 952 |
2 | Eiffel Tower | Parisian Region | France | 7 253 011 |
3 | Walt Disney World | Florida | USA | 5 465 098 |
4 | South Beach | Florida | USA | 4 689 396 |
5 | Berlin Wall | Berlin | Germany | 4 595 501 |
6 | Las Vegas Strip | Nevada | USA | 3 653 548 |
7 | Big Ben | Greater London | UK | 2 561 617 |
8 | Times Square | New York | USA | 2 560 272 |
9 | Notre Dame | Parisian Region | France | 2 517 129 |
10 | Oktoberfest | Bavaria | Germany | 2 262 885 |
11 | Mardi Gras | Louisiana | USA | 2 202 256 |
12 | Niagara Falls | Ontario | Canada | 2 198 459 |
13 | Valle Sagrado (Machu Picchu) | Cusco | Peru | 2 195 108 |
14 | Grand Canyon | Arizona | USA | 1 989 316 |
15 | Waikiki | Hawaii | USA | 1 939 768 |