When it comes to world-famous landmarks — the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Louvre — it’s impossible for people to agree on which one is the best, but new research tries to measure which ones are the most successful. The luggage storage company Bounce recently published research showing the best-loved landmarks as well as the ones that generate the most revenue for ticket sales.
For the research, Bounce identified 128 landmarks to research and collected data points such as Tripadvisor scores, Google metrics, and hashtags. Researchers also collected visitor data for all of the landmarks in 2022 as well as the price per entry, which they used to estimate annual revenue. Using that data, Bounce researchers ranked the landmarks based on seven factors and awarded scores on a 10-point scale to identify the best.
Best-Loved Landmarks
According to the data, the top five best-loved landmarks include Niagara Falls, the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon, Big Ben, and the Golden Gate Bridge. At the top spot, Niagara Falls received a score of 9.45, which breaks down into a five-star Tripadvisor rating, 14.9 million Google searchers, 3.7 million Instagram hashtags, and 1.3 billion TikTok references.
In second place, Taj Mahal received a five-star review, 22 million Google searches, 2.5 million Instagram hashtags, and 617.9 million TikTok references. In third place, the Grand Canyon received a five-star review on Tripadvisor, 13.3 million Google searches, 4.3 million Instagram hashtags, and 667.9 million TikTok references.
Highest Ticket Revenue
As for the highest ticket revenue, Bounce found that the Burj Khalifa generated the most revenue in 2022 with approximately 17 million visitors paying $44 a ticket, which amounted to $748 million. The Sydney Opera House took second place with 10.9 million visitors and $316.1 million, and the Empire State Building took third place with 4 million visitors and $176 million in annual revenue.