Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula named in world’s most loved destinations 
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27.01.2022

Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula named in world’s most loved destinations 

Geelong Waterfront. Image via Festival of Sails.

For the first time ever, destinations around the world have been ranked to uncover those that are truly most loved.

Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula has made the list of the top 100 Most Loved Destinations Around the World for 2021, reminding us all how truly lucky we are to live where we live.

The brand-new Tourism Sentiment Index‘s ‘Leading Places’ are the 100 most loved destinations in 2021 according to what people really feel. No one has paid to be named. No surveys have suggested an answer. Word of mouth built this list, unprompted and unbiased. Each of these 100 destinations has earned the love and an impressive Tourism Sentiment Score® during one of the toughest years the tourism industry has faced. They are Leading Places, and that’s worth celebrating.

The Bellarine has taken out the 25th spot and Geelong the 69th in this list, with the Bellarine Peninsula ranking higher than tourist hot spots like Bordeaux, France (#49), Queenstown, New Zealand (#44) and Las Vegas, United States (#32). While Geelong was a little higher on the list, our regional city beat out the likes of Laguna Beach, California (#72), Blue Mountains, NSW (#76) and Barossa, South Australia (#90).

Explore the best of Geelong and the Bellarine here

The Great Ocean Road also made the list coming in at 86 while Ballarat came in at 87.

“Geelong and The Bellarine have been much-loved destinations for generations of visitors. It’s wonderful to see the region recognised in this way by new audiences,” said Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine Deputy Executive Director, Tracy Carter.

“The incredible experiences we offer are clearly having a positive impact on the conversations people are having online.”

The Bellarine received a sentiment score of 29.15 and Geelong a score of 25.11.

“As we continue to work with our industry to build the brand of Geelong and The Bellarine and recover from the impacts of the pandemic, this recognition and positive buzz about the region will be really important,” said Ms Carter.

Geelong and The Bellarine is increasingly becoming known as a region of saltwater indulgences, enterprising local artisans, world-class food and wine and cultural experiences for all.

Tourism Sentiment Index conducted an intensive study of its data – more than 1.6 billion online conversations and content pieces publicly available about 21,330 global destinations – to identify the 100 Most Loved Destinations. Tourism Sentiment Index is cutting-edge technology that applies the power of artificial intelligence to the challenge of deciphering sentiment from human expression. This technology produces a novel metric for destination marketing: Tourism Sentiment Score®.

Find out who else made the list via the Tourism Sentiment Index website.