With so many travellers sharing their favourite holiday snaps on Instagram, the Travel Insurance experts at InsureandGo have analysed thousands of photos posted on the social media platform in order to reveal which holiday hotspots are home to the happiest tourists.
The researchers analysed 100 popular global holiday destinations, collecting a sample of pictures from famous tourist attractions within each location, before using facial recognition technology to analyse the expressions of visitors and in turn, give each an average ‘smile score’.
The Top 15 Happiest Holiday Hotspots
The Lake District ranks as the number one happiest holiday hotspot in the world, followed by Lofoten and Queenstown. Cumbria’s National Park tops the charts thanks to an impressive smile score of 88.4 out of 100, with most of its photos showing visitors smiling and enjoying their trip to the region. Home to the highest mountain in England, Scafell Pike, and offering no end of picturesque villages and spectacular vistas, there’s a lot to smile about, and it seems not even the great British weather can stop visitors grinning for the camera.
Second place in the rankings highlights a lesser-known travel gem, with the dramatic mountains and pristine villages of Lofoten in Norway leaving visitors smiling more in their travel snaps than the heavily visited likes of Barcelona and New York City. With a smile score of 85.2, maybe this Norwegian archipelago should be on more bucket lists. Queenstown in New Zealand completes the top three with a smile score of 84.2. Its blend of striking scenery, Lord of the Rings fandom, award winning wines and options for adrenaline junkies, making it a happy trip for any taste.
Other notable destinations that feature in the top15 include the Isle of Skye in Scotland (7th), home to stunning scenery and breathtaking hikes; Palawan in the Philippines, where travellers snorkel in crystal clear waters and kayak through lagoons, and Lisbon, a European hotspot which leaves travellers smiling from ear to ear as they traverse its historic cobbled streets.
Although Malaysia failed to enter the top 10 (with Hong Kong being the only Asian country), Kuala Lumpur managed to place #12, just above Palawan, the Philippines.
