Byron Bay and Bondi ranked as some of the world's most ‘overhyped' destinations
They are the beaches along the east coast championed to the world as Australia's best.
Byron Bay and Bondi have long been tourist postcard stops (particularly for backpackers) for decades on end, but a new report may well flip some of our most popular beaches on its head.
A new survey has carved out the most overhyped beaches around the world — and the ones that actually live up to their insta-worthy promise.
Ibiza Summer Villas, which is a service that specialises in 'curating unforgettable experiences through an exclusive portfolio of luxurious villa rentals across the stunning island of Ibiza' dished the dirt onthe most overhyped beaches in the world, versus the ones that genuinely live up to the hype.
The survey ranked over 100 recognised beaches globally by 'combining publicly available traveller reviews, search interest on Google and TikTok, and annual rainfall data to assess weather reliability.'
Each beach in focus was scored based on how often it disappointed versus how popular it was online.
Topping the list in the first three positions were all Thailand-based — being Railay Beach (famous for its limestone cliffs and accessible only by boat), followed by Patong Beach (often billed as Thailand's party capital) and in third spot was Maya Bay (the stunning cove made famous by the film, The Beach).
But coming in fourth place as the world's most 'overhyped' beach was Byron Bay in NSW — followed by the always popular, Bondi Beach.
According to the survey, Byron Bay — despite the laid-back lifestyle and celebrity sightings — ranked poorly on satisfaction (with 1.57 per cent of reviews as negative versus the destination's high search volume) and had relatively high rainfall.
Bondi Beach — known as one of the most recognisable beaches in the world — had many claim the reality of the location didn't quite live up to the expectation.
The survey revealed that Bondi had the highest percentage of negative reviews relative to total reviews, with 2.70 per cent of visitors using words like 'disappointing' or 'overrated.'
'Overcrowding, commercialisation, and tourist fatigue are common themes [for Bondi] earning it a firm spot in fifth place on the overhyped list,' the survey said in a statement.
The Bondi Beach reputation has received a rough serve this week — with research conducted by Cloudwards (a source of cloud and privacy software reviews, including popular categories such as cloud storage, VPN and password managers) named Bondi Beach as part of the top 20 most complained about beaches worldwide.
The research claimed to 'meticulously' examine TripAdvisor reviews for 200 of the world's most popular beaches to determine 'which sandy shores are leaving visitors feeling salty'.
It then ranked the beaches from 1 – being the most complained about, to 100, the least complained about.
The study focused on four main areas of criticism – cleanliness, overcrowding, long queues and noise disruption.
Coming in first was Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, followed by Venice Beach in LA and Playa Manueel Antonio in Costa Rica. Bondi Beach ranked ninth while Manly Beach secured the 20th spot. According to the study, Bondi has a complaint score of 57.1, a 'dirty' rating of 13 per cent, 'overcrowded' percentage of 75.9 and 'noise disruption' of 3.4 per cent.
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