Moving through Milford Sound in a storm, the wettest place in New Zealand.
It’s official: Piopiotahi - Milford Sound is a ‘World Wonder’ but this is probably not in the way you think.
A study of the world’s most searched-for tourism attractions has declared a list of new ‘world wonders’ according to Wikipedia data. By measuring the number of times an attraction’s Wikipediapage has been accessed, they have created a comprehensive list of most ‘wondered about’ wonders.
And Mitre Peak has been piquing interest the world over.
Inspiring 844,858 page views since first published, it’s the most searched landmark in New Zealand. Though the ‘eighth wonder of the world’ might be a stretch.
According to the research compilers, travel insurance firm AllClear, the Seven Wonders of the World look a little different.
“As Wikipedia is often where people turn to learn and gather information, it’s the perfect data source to help pinpoint the places in the world that people are most interested in,” said the insurer.
The Taj Majal near Agra is the top of seven most 'wondered about' wonders, and was also included in the Seven New World Wonders. Photo / 123rf
India’s Taj Mahal tops the most intriguing world wonder, with almost 27 million searches, followed by Burj Khalifa, with 23.4 million people with ‘wonders’ about the UAE skyscraper.
From the tallest building in the Emirates to the tallest mountain on earth - Mt Everest was solidly third in the list, with 22 million searches.
The 7 World Wonderings were completed by New York’s Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall of China, Paris’ Eiffel Tower and Machu Picchu in Peru.
A map of the world's most wondered wonders, according to Wikipedia queries. Photo / AllClear
What’s so wonderful about seven wonders?
The world has been obsessed with the notion of seven wonders since 400 BC. It was the original bucket list, that no traveller could be considered worth their sandals without seeing at least once.
Since Heroditus chalked up the original ‘magnificent seven’, most have been destroyed. Only the Great Pyramids of Giza still stands. In 2000 a list of New World Wonders was compiled by a Swiss heritage body, to reflect a more universal wonders list by public vote. The Taj Mahal, Machu Piccu and the Great Wall of China also appeared on this list.
However the obsession with seven has led to many landmarks claiming to be the eighth, ‘overlooked’ wonder. Milford Sound is just one of around fifty self-proclaimed ‘eighth wonders’. Others recognised by the moniker include the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland and Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple complex.
AllClear decided that a better approach would be granting each country their own wonder.
Mapping the top most ‘wondered about’ wiki for each of 192 countries, it appears culture and natural wonders intrigue armchair travellers equally.
The map of the most Wikipedia-ed landmarks in (nearly) every country shows 32 cultural or historical sites, 32 parks or reserves, 26 ancient ruins, 20 mountains or volcanoes, 17 natural wonders, 17 bodies of water, 15 religious landmarks, nine islands, seven modern architectural sites, three dams or canals, three statues or monuments and two deserts.
To do so the travel insurer collated a list of 4300 landmarks with Wikipedia entries and compared them all by the number of pageviews over the past 5 years. If you’re wondering how they did that, the full methodology can be found on their blog: allcleartravel.co.uk
