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1205 of 1223 WHS have been reviewed by our community.


Mount Etna

DannyB Australia - 22-Apr-25

Mount Etna

We based ourselves in Taormina for 4 days in early April 2025 to immerse ourselves in this location, as it is a beautiful coastal town (up in the hills) with an amazing amphitheatre and character itself (not UNESCO).  We were blessed with a wonderful view of Mt Etna from Taormina for the first 2 days and then the cloud cover came in.  We choose a local tour company for a Morning Tour of Mt Etna which was 75 Euro per adult.  The tour company picked us up at 8.30am for a leisurely drive up the Northeastern slope of Mt Etna where we then hiked for about an hour and half along the slope of Mt Etna amongst the lava flows and landscape.  Snow was still visible across the top of Mt Etna, although we only went up to 2000 feet

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Wadi Al-Salam Cemetery in Najaf (T)

Els Slots The Netherlands - 16-Apr-25

Wadi Al-Salam Cemetery in Najaf (T)

Najaf in Southern Iraq is the holiest city for Shia Islam as it holds the Tomb of Ali – “the” Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed and with whom the Shia split from the lineage as recognized by the Sunni. He was assassinated in 661 in nearby Kufa and buried in Najaf (though some believe his remains are elsewhere, the Caliphs since the 8th century have recognized Najaf as the place and it developed into a huge pilgrimage site). 

The Tomb of Ali is now housed in a glitzy mausoleum, rebuilt and embellished over and over again

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Great Smoky Mountains

Darren013 United States - 18-Apr-25

My family went over spring break to the Sevierville area. We stayed in a nice cabin with wonderful views of the mountains in a very secluded hamlet. I went on two hikes. One was through a little river, and then we went into an almost tropical environment. We walked through some beautiful wildflowers and stopped at a picturesque waterfall at the end. The other hike we went on was the Alum Cave/Mt. LeConte Trail, and it was the most beautiful trail I have ever seen. The first mile you are traversing through a river, and then you go through an arch rock natural formation that is pretty cool. Then you start going up a little bit, and there is a beautiful corner that you can climb on and see the view below

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Jelling

Zoë Sheng Chinese-Canadian - 19-Apr-25

Jelling

I visited this site back in September ‎2017 (compare the picture Frederik Dawson posted and mine you'll see it's exactly the same as five years before. I think it will always look like this although the glass covers might change). In 2017 the museum was new, I think, and it's DEFINITELY worth a visit for more than just the Jelling stones but overall Viking info. You can even go into Valhalla - I mean, literally? Jelling is a must visit but why the low score from me and from most visitors? Well, it's important - but not worth seeing the stones themselves. In fact the picture of a stone would probably be enough anyway. You have to stand in front of it and think "oh, wow, so this was planted here and that's why there are Christians in Denmark afterwards"

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Babylon

Els Slots The Netherlands - 15-Apr-25

Babylon

I made it to Babylon in April 2025. There’s a lot to explain here – we’re missing a Solivagant-style PhD review, so I have tried my best to cover a few subjects to better be able to understand this WHS. I based myself on the official nomination documents, web searches, and the wonderful book “Mesopotamia, Ancient Art and Architecture”.

First, the Babylonian Empire itself. We had a connection here already. I’ve redone it to distinguish between the “Old” or “First” Babylonian Empire and the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Remains of the first (2nd millennium BCE) are hardly existent at the Babylon WHS. It focuses on the Neo-Babylonian empire, about 1,000 years younger and a relatively late stage in the history of Mesopotamia overall (it is Chapter 12 of 14 in the aforementioned, chronologically ordered book). The King of Babylon (most notably Nebuchadnezzar II) regained regional power and started a monumental building scheme that centered on his capital, Babylon and included the famous Ishtar Gate

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Blog Connections

One Million - Updated

Our connection ‘One Million Visitors or More’ is popular: it links 107 WHS that are visited yearly by large numbers of tourists. Looking at the years given with the explanations, it seems that the last major update of this list was done between 2015 and 2017. It did not make much sense to update it during the COVID years (2020-2022), but now, in 2025, with data across the ‘normal’ years 2023 and 2024 available, I have gone for a full makeover.

Update process

Out of the 107 connected sites, I found adjusted numbers from the ‘After COVID’-era for 90 WHS. Unfortunately, often, there is very little precise info available. A notorious example is the Cologne Cathedral, whose official website has shown ‘6 million’ for ages. And despite the country’s love for administration, data on Indian WHS are hard to get. On the other side of the spectrum, the UK publishes nice statistics every year via the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA). 

In the connection descriptions, I have kept the old data as well, as it is interesting to see the trends over time (as long as they stay over one million visitors).

Findings

When we compare the numbers pre- and post-COVID, the overall findings are that (a) the numbers have at least returned to the levels before 2020, and (b) most are in the same range or slightly higher than before.

Some other trends can be seen as well:

  • European WHS do well; maybe European tourists stayed closer to home right after COVID?
  • Several US WHS see lower numbers than before. Their cost may be an issue.
  • The already very high numbers in China keep on growing and growing. Overall, the East Asian sites do well due to strong domestic tourism from their large urban populations. Photo 1 shows the entrance to Zhangjiajie NP (Wulingyuan) on a quiet morning. 
  • Türkiye does well also. Some sites grew due to reopenings (Selimiye Mosque), or the temporary free entrance to the Hagia Sophia after being considered a mosque again. The investments in big site museums also seem to pan out, as Troy is expected to rise beyond 1 million in 2025 as well. I wonder what the sharp rises in entrance fees over the years 2024-2025 will do.

We also have seen the introduction of daily visitor caps at these sites: Acropolis, Forbidden City (Imperial Palace & Beijing Central Axis WHS), Kulangsu, Mogao Caves, and West Norwegian Fjords.

One would expect lower numbers at the following sites that have been affected by conflict, war and other damage:

  • Bagan (Myanmar) has seen an unexpected rise from 2 million in 2019 to 3.4 million in 2022, despite the military junta taking over in 2021 and the subsequent civil war
  • Shuri Castle, one of the Gusuku sites, burned down in 2019, but numbers have rebounded to 1.44 million in 2023 (1.8 million in 2015).
  • The two main Russian tourist magnets, the Kremlin Musea and the Hermitage, have seen a drop from 2 to 1 million and 4 to 2.8 million, respectively.
  • There are no new numbers for the Kyiv Cathedral and Lavra, but considering the conflict surrounding the Lavra, they probably will be lower than before. 

Oddities are the two hugely popular local pilgrimage sites on the List: Pavagadh Hill in India (photo 3 shows the queue) and Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka. Any numbers given here seem to be guesses, but crowded they certainly are.

Risers, Fallers and New entries

The strongest risers are the Acropolis, from 1.475 million visitors in 2016 to 8.4 million in 2023, Versailles, from 7.5 to 15 million; Rome’s Colosseum from 6 to 12 million; and Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia from 3.7 million in 2019 to 13.6 million in 2022. 

The only one I found falling below 1 million during this time frame is the Everglades: from 1.018 million in 2017 to 810189 in 2023. I also doubt the numbers of the Amphitheater of El Jem, since tourism to Tunisia has severely declined (but I could not find an updated source).

New entries since 2020 are the newly inscribed sites of Beijing Central Axis, the Getbol and Göbekli Tepe.

Els - 20 April 2025

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Comments

Durian 20 April 2025

The free visa program of many countries in Asia especially China, Japan and ASEAN is causing a tourist boom in Asian markets.


Jay T 20 April 2025

Some of the sites around the Mediterranean could be seeing an increase in numbers due to the cruise industry. I also wonder how much airline layover deals factor into visitor numbers (i.e. tourists on Turkish Airlines spending time in Istanbul en route to their final destination).

Very interesting list. How many of the Top 100 members on this website have visited all 107 of these sites?


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