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Knowing the most widely shared attractions and hotels gives brands a window into how travelers perceive destinations, what they enjoy doing, and most importantly, what they like to share with their networks. We must admit we've shared a few photos of these places on Instagram, too.

Both travelers and brands helped take Instagram to new heights in 2016 as the photo-centric platform grew its audience and rolled out products aimed at inspiring travelers to plan and book trips.

With more than 500 million users worldwide — and some 75 percent of users outside the U.S. — Instagram has become a magnet for finding trip ideas for many travelers. Earlier this year Facebook surveyed U.S. travelers and found 38 percent of respondents got ideas for their most recent trips from Instagram, for example.

Global travelers also did plenty of sharing, with Disney Parks and Resorts taking the top spot for the world’s most shared destination on Instagram, according to data from the platform. But Central Park in New York City was the most shared single destination this year since Disney’s ranking considers all of its theme parks and resorts around the world.

Multiple Las Vegas hotels made Instagram’s ranking for the most shared hotels, including the MGM Grand, The Cosmopolitan, and Caesars Palace.

Some 80 million photos are shared on the platform every day and 13 percent of U.S. users, for example, use Instagram daily. A Skift Trends report released last month on Instagram and Snapchat pointed out that 51 percent of Instagram’s users are now over age 35 as the platform itself has become more mature.

Facebook’s recent travel survey also found that Instagram users in the U.S. who posted photos with the hashtag #travel in July 2016 visited the platform 20 times per day, seven days a week. Unsurprisingly, the hashtag #travel was the most popular travel hashtag on Instagram this year.

Most Popular Travel Hashtags of 2016

Rank Hashtag
1 #travel
2 #sunset
3 #travelgram
4 #wanderlust
5 #vacation
6 #instatravel
7 #adventure
8 #view
9 #travelphotography
10 #roadtrip

Source: Instagram

Advertising on Instagram became more robust in 2016 as Facebook and Instagram rolled out Dynamic Ads for Travel earlier this year. Dynamic Ads let travel brands such as hotels and airlines retarget travelers with images of destinations or real-time rates and availability and so far brands such as IHG, Marriott and Trivago have used these ads.

Knowing the most shared places help brands with their content marketing and advertising strategies by understanding how travelers perceive destinations, what they enjoy doing and, most importantly, what they like to share with their networks.

Although photos that friends and family share organically are usually the stimulants that get people most interested in traveling.

Most Shared Global Attractions on Instagram in 2016

Rank Attraction
1 Disney Theme Parks (global)
2 Universal Studios Theme Parks (global)
3 Central Park (NYC)
4 Times Square (NYC)
5 Eiffel Tower (Paris)
6 Louvre Museum (Paris)
7 Las Vegas Strip (Las Vegas)
8 Santa Monica Pier (LA)
9 Brooklyn Bridge (NYC)
10 ВДНХ / Vystavka Dostizheniy Narodnogo Khozyaystva (Moscow)
11 Siam Paragon (Bangkok)
12 Colosseum (Rome)
13 Madison Square Garden (NYC)
14 Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
15 Tower Bridge (London)
16 Barcelona Centre (Spain)
17 Notre-Dame Cathedral (Paris)
18 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (NYC)
19 Empire State Building (NYC)
20 Niagara Falls (NY State/Canada)

Most Shared Hotel Properties on Instagram in 2016

Rank Hotel
1 MGM Grand Las Vegas
2 W New York – Times Square
3 The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
4 Atlantis The Palm, Dubai
5 Caesars Palace (Las Vegas)
6 Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino
7 Fontainebleau Miami Beach
8 Wynn Las Vegas
9 Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel (Official)
10 The Venetian Macao 澳門威尼斯人

Source: Instagram

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The Daily Newsletter

Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.

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Tags: instagram, social media

Photo credit: Disney Parks and Resorts were the most shared attractions on Instagram this year. Pictured is Cinderella's Castle at Tokyo Disneyland. 189188 / 189188

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