Do you choose where you are going to travel to next according to how Instagrammable you think it might be? Or where you can strike your sexiest pose? It may sound like pushing things too far, but there is no denying how closely linked travel and social media have become.
South China Morning Post reported London comes out on top of Instagram's most popular worldwide destinations for 2019, according to research conducted by airport bus company Hoppa.
When it comes to posting sexually suggestive poses on social media, however, Hong Kong was revealed to be the second most popular place in the world.
The first part of Hoppa's research is based on the number of posts published on Instagram from March 2018 until March 2019 containing popular hashtags from various destinations.
London tops the list as the most popular destination in the world with 118 million hashtags, taking top spot from New York, which came first when the study was last conducted in 2016.
This time the Big Apple came third with 82 million hashtags, behind Paris with 101 million.
Other cities that moved up the list compared to 2016 include Istanbul and Barcelona.
The Turkish tourism industry has been recovering over the last couple of years as security in the country has been strengthened after the 2016 Ataturk Airport attack that killed 45 people. In April, Turkish Airlines moved to the new US$11 billion Istanbul Airport. Meanwhile, Barcelona's tourism has also been bolstered by increased flights.
In Asia, the highest-ranking city was Jakarta, in sixth place overall. Jakarta has been named one of the fastest growing cities in the world by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). A relaxation of visa requirements and increased flights to Japan by low-cost carriers may have helped Tokyo reach the top 10.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's New Straits Times reported KL ranked 4th in the Scenery category, trailing Santiago, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Kiev, Ukraine.
KL also photobombed the Food division, placing 7th after Tokyo, Taipei, Doha, Istanbul, Osaka and Bangkok.
As for the other categories – Berlin, Shanghai and Seoul dominated Selfies; Dubai, Mumbai and Paris led Couples/Wefies; while Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong and Caracas (Venezuela) topped Sexually Suggestive.
As for the overall list, Malaysia ranks a slightly droopy 39th – down from its peak of 29th in 2016.
Here are the snippets of the top 10 for each category mentioned above:
Category: Scenery
1. Santiago
2. Buenos Aires
3. Kiev (Ukraine)
4. Kuala Lumpur
5. Antalya (Turkey)
6. Cape Town
7. Phuket
8. San Francisco
9. Budapest (Hungary)
10. Lagos (Nigeria)
Category: Food
1. Tokyo
2. Taipei
3. Doha
4. Istanbul
5. Osaka
6. Bangkok
7. Kuala Lumpur
8. Singapore
9. Abu Dhabi
10. Melbourne
Source : Asia One | Hoppa | South China Morning Post | New Straits Times
