More than half of 18 to 65 year-olds booking holidays decided where to travel based on Instagram posts they had seen, according to new research by UK carrier EasyJet.
The survey of 2,000 travellers also revealed that almost a third of people booking travel named their number one driver for choosing a holiday destination as…wait for it...how good the pics taken there would look on their Instagram feed.
“As people’s attention turns to booking their summer holidays our research shows that they are not only turning to social media to showcase their travels but also to inspire their next adventure in the first place,” Head digital experience at easyJet Daniel Young said.
Instagram has the incredible power to decide where the must-see tourist hotspots are right now.
This explains why Instagram has also been blamed for over tourism in select destinations, with everyone flocking to that one spot to get the perfect photo for their feed.
The study found that the most visited destinations were the Northern Lights in Iceland, Italy’s Lake Como, Santorini and the Benagil sea cave in Portugal.
The research found the top ten #travelgoal inspired locations in Europe were: The Northern Lights, Iceland 75%; Lake Como, Italy 63%; Santorini, Greece 60%; Alps, Switzerland 50%; Elafonissi Beach, Greece 49%; Cinque Terre, Italy 47%; Acropolis and Parthenon, Greece 46%; Coliseum, Italy 44%; Tulip fields, Netherlands 40% and the Bengali Sea Cave, 33%.
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