NZ Missing From US Travel Operator’s Global Bucket List

A US luxury travel operator Unforgettable Travel has just compiled a list of 135 of the world’s most popular bucket list destinations and used software to determine how many people were making plans to visit each site.

New Zealand did not rate in the top 10, which is not a bad thing considering the damage, litter and wear and tear to Aotearoa’ top scenic spots. Thank you covid.

New Zealand frequently ranks in #1 in the world as the place to visit in the UK’s annual Telegraph Travel Awards.

Almost two years ago PlanetWare.com did not even rate the Waitomo Caves or Hobbiton in their top 12 best Kiwi destinations. Their top 12:

1. Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound

2. Bay of Islands

3. Queenstown Island

4. Lake Taupo and Tongariro National Park

5. Rotorua

6. Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers

7. Abel Tasman National Park & the Abel Tasman Coast Track

8. Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park

9. Napier, Hawke's Bay

10. Auckland

11. Coromandel Peninsula

12. Kaikoura

Unforgettable Travel’s 10 most searched bucket list travel experiences were:

1. Visiting the Burj Khalifa in Dubai
2.  
3. Sailing around the Statue of Liberty
4. Hiking to Mount Everest base camp
5. Cruising the Nile
6. Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower
7. Seeing the Las Vegas strip
8. Crossing San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge
9. Seeing New York city from the top of the Empire State building
10. Touring the Louvre in Paris
11. Exploring the Colosseum in Rome

The Bur is more than twice the height of New York's Empire State Building.

The top places to go in Europe according to the travel operator were:

1. Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

2. Touring the Louvre in Paris

2. Exploring Rome’s Colosseum

4. Going to the Glastonbury Festival

5. Partying in Ibiza

6. Riding the Orient Express

7. Seeing La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

8. Visiting Buckingham Palace in London

9. Cruising the Norwegian fjords

10. Running the London Marathon

Europe had the most spots on the longer list, taking 19 out of 50 spots. Italy secured an additional four with Pompeii, Cinque Terre, the Sistine Chapel and the canals of Venice.

And in Oceania:

1. Snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef

2. Watching a show at the Sydney Opera House

3. Seeing New Zealand’s Hobbiton

4. Visiting the monolith of Uluru, or Ayers Rock

5. Staying in an overwater bungalow in Bora Bora

6. Touring New Zealand’s Waitomo Glowworm Caves

The Waitomo caves will be loving the covid pandemic and a break from the hordes of overseas tourists.

Unlike native forests, which are resilient and can grow back from total destruction, most damage to caves is irreversible. Damage to limestone features can take tens of thousands of years to recover.

So why do so many Australians want to visit New Zealand when they have more top sites in their own country?

© Scoop Media