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Crikey! Tourism Australia hits 5 million Insta fans

Tourism Australia is taking 'doing it for the gram' to a whole new level as its handle @australia has just ticked over five million followers, making it easily the most followed national destination page in the world!

Tourism Australia is taking ‘doing it for the gram’ to a whole new level as its handle @australia has just ticked over five million followers, making it easily the most followed national destination page in the world!

We’ve always known how picture-perfect Australia is, but now it’s official. Australia is the most ‘followed’ destination in the world.

The @australia Instagram page is number one with over five million followers, with other countries such as the USA (225k), England (409k), Japan (516k), New Zealand (1.1mil), and Canada (1.8mil) having only a handful of the audience size.

So what’s Tourism Australia’s secret?

If you guessed cute and cuddly animals, you’d be partially right.

Kangaroo Joey
Image: @Australia

Alongside thumb-stopping images and videos in which Aussie animals regularly feature, each day the team scrolls thousands of pieces of content submitted through the hashtag #seeaustralia – by travellers and tourism operators alike – to find the best content from across the country to re-share.

And let’s be honest, there are plenty of Instagrammable destinations here in our beautiful homeland, so we’re sure there are a plethora of photos to sort through.

In fact, the hashtag #seeaustralia has been used over 5,717,766 times!

Having started the page now over a decade ago, the team behind @australia has posted a total of 10,665 pictures to the feed – equating to around 2-3 posts a day – showing consistency is also key. 

Tourism Australia’s Chief Marketing Officer, Susan Coghill says there’s no question over one of our biggest selling points on the platform, with Aussie animals consistently amongst the most double-tapped images on the page: 

“Our Aussie animals are always sure-fire favourites on our social channels and the cheekier the pic, the more likely people are to take notice.

“Some of our best performing posts of all time have been kangaroos scratching their bellies and koalas lounging about. And that’s not to mention the wombats with their booty shakes!

“We are certainly the lucky country when it comes to endless photogenic wildlife, with most of it found nowhere else on earth.”

Need some feel-good Aussie content in your life right now?

Let’s take a look at @australia’s top five posts from the past five years:

2017: Red crab migration – Christmas Island

Australia
Image: @faulkner_photography

2018: The SS City of Adelaide shipwreck – Magnetic Island, QLD

Australia Instagram
Image: @conormoorephotography

2019: Kangaroo hopping on water – Berrara Beach, NSW

Australia Instagram
Image: @surfsidecudmirrhabeach

2020: Thank You Firefighters – Sydney Opera House, NSW

Australia Instagram
Image: @kenleanfore

2021: Wombat happy dance – Maria Island, TAS

Australia
Image: @see.tasmania

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To have content featured on the @australia Instagram account, you can tag #seeaustralia or #holidayherethisyear to give Tourism Australia permission to repost.