{"id":80995,"date":"2015-03-01T13:00:36","date_gmt":"2015-03-01T11:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=80995"},"modified":"2015-05-20T08:47:26","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T06:47:26","slug":"sa-landmarks-among-most-popular-natural-wonders-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/80995\/sa-landmarks-among-most-popular-natural-wonders-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"SA landmarks among most popular natural wonders in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study has ranked the most popular natural areas in the world by the amount of visitors they see each year.<\/p>\n

The study assessed data from 556 national parks and protected areas<\/a><\/strong> worldwide, and estimated their total economic value based on visits.<\/p>\n

According to the research group – which included the World Wildlife Fund scientists – over 8 billion people visit national parks and nature reserves each year, bringin in over US$600 billion in revenue.<\/p>\n

In contrast, only an estimated US$10 billion is spent on the conservation of these areas.<\/p>\n

The most visited natural attraction is located in the USA: the Golden Gate National Recreational Area, which sees 14.4 million visits a year.<\/p>\n

Two South African locations are included on the list, with the Table Mountain National Park seeing 1.4 million visits a year (33rd most vistied in the world), and the Kruger National Park seeing 1 million visits (46th, overall).<\/p>\n

The research paper looked at the average number of annual visits between 1998 and 2007.<\/p>\n

10 most visited parks in the world<\/h3>\n

The top 10 most visited natural areas in the world are all located in the USA and the UK, which are home to 80% of the world’s protected natural areas.<\/p>\n

According to the research data, 3.8 billion of the 8 billion annual visitors to parks and reserves are found in Europe (where more than half of these areas are located), with North America accounting for 3.3 billion visitors.<\/p>\n

This leaves under a\u00a0billion visitors dispersed across the rest of the world’s natural areas.<\/p>\n

1. Golden Gate National Recreational Area – 13.7 million visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Golden<\/a><\/p>\n

2. The Lake District\u00a0– 10.5\u00a0million visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

3. The Peak\u00a0District\u00a0– 10.1 million visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Lake Mead National Recreational Area – 7.8\u00a0million visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Lake<\/a><\/p>\n

5. North York Moors National Park\u00a0– 7.3\u00a0million visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"North<\/a><\/p>\n

6. Delaware Water Gap\u00a0National Recreational Area – 5.1\u00a0million visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Delaware<\/a><\/p>\n

7. Dartmoor\u00a0– 4.3\u00a0million visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dartmoor\"<\/a><\/p>\n

8. New Forest\u00a0– 4.3\u00a0million visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"New<\/a><\/p>\n

9. Grand Canyon National Park\u00a0– 4.3\u00a0million visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Grand<\/a><\/p>\n

10. Cape Cod\u00a0– 4.1 million visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Cape<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/strong><\/td>\nNational Park<\/strong><\/td>\nCountry<\/strong><\/td>\nAnnual visitors<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nGolden Gate NRA<\/td>\nUSA<\/td>\n13.7 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nThe Lake District<\/td>\nUK<\/td>\n10.5 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nThe Peak District<\/td>\nUK<\/td>\n10.1 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nLake Mead NRA<\/td>\nUSA<\/td>\n7.8\u00a0million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nNorth York Moors National Park<\/td>\nUK<\/td>\n7.3 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nDelaware Water Gap NRA<\/td>\nUSA<\/td>\n5.1\u00a0million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nDartmoor<\/td>\nUK<\/td>\n4.3 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nNew Forest<\/td>\nUK<\/td>\n4.3 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>\nGrand Canyon National Park<\/td>\nUSA<\/td>\n4.3\u00a0million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>\nCape Cod NS<\/td>\nUSA<\/td>\n4.1 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

Most visited parks by continent<\/h3>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Region<\/strong><\/td>\nNational Park<\/strong><\/td>\nCountry<\/strong><\/td>\nAnnual visitors<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
North America<\/td>\nGolden Gate NRA<\/td>\nUSA<\/td>\n13.72 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Europe<\/td>\nThe Lake District<\/td>\nUK<\/td>\n10.5 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Asia<\/td>\nSeoraksan National Park<\/td>\nSouth Korea<\/td>\n3.06 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Africa<\/td>\nTable Mountain National Park<\/td>\nSouth Africa<\/td>\n1.46 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
South America<\/td>\nTijuca National Park<\/td>\nBrazil<\/td>\n737,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oceania<\/td>\nGondwana Rainforests<\/td>\nAustralia<\/td>\n510,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

Most visited parks in Africa<\/h3>\n

1. Table Mountain National Park<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Table<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Kruger National Park<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Victoria Falls<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Victoria<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Addo Elephant Park<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Addo<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Serengeti National Park<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Serengeti<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/strong><\/td>\nNational Park<\/strong><\/td>\nCountry<\/strong><\/td>\nAnnual visitors<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nTable Mountain\u00a0National Park<\/td>\nSouth Africa<\/td>\n1.46 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nKruger National Park<\/td>\nSouth Africa<\/td>\n1.0 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nVictoria Falls\/Mosi-oa-Tunya<\/td>\nZimbabwe<\/td>\n300,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nAddo Elephant National Park<\/td>\nSouth Africa<\/td>\n172,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nSerengeti National Park<\/td>\nTanzania<\/td>\n147,879<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nWest Coast<\/td>\nSouth Africa<\/td>\n99,726<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nLake Manyara National Park<\/td>\nTanzania<\/td>\n71,693<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nAugrabies Falls National Park<\/td>\nSouth Africa<\/td>\n65,987<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>\nTarangire National Park<\/td>\nTanzania<\/td>\n55,134<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>\nMoremi Game Reserve<\/td>\nBotswana<\/td>\n39,178<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

More on South Africa<\/h3>\n

South Africa climbs global tourism list<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SA city among most visited in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The new best country in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Most expensive animals sold in SA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new study has ranked the most popular natural areas in the world by the amount of visitors they see each year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":81045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[26,9553,9551],"class_list":["post-80995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-headline","tag-national-parks","tag-natural-wonders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80995"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81101,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80995\/revisions\/81101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}