CHEROKEE, N.C. (WGHP) – We aren’t blowing Smoky stuff right here: The nationwide park within the mountains on the North Carolina/Tennessee border is simply as grand because the one by the canyon in Arizona.
That’s based mostly on an evaluation of grades on the journey planning recommendation web site Tripadvisor. The Nice Smoky Mountains Nationwide Park and Grand Canyon Nationwide Park get essentially the most optimistic critiques.
TripAdvisor at all times desires to know the way you are feeling about the place you go and what you do, and of these of you who’ve attended the Nice Smoky Mountains or the Grand Canyon, 89% gave them higher than “nice” or “grand” critiques, score them “wonderful” (or 5-star).
Household Locations Information, which additionally plans holidays, determined to take a look at 50 of the preferred websites within the U.S. (based mostly on annual guests) and see how these 5-star critiques shook out.
That the Smoky Mountains and the Grand Canyon tied for first is a nice shock for what some in all probability take into account the South’s hottest place to go (sorry, Disney World).
What may be extra stunning is to acknowledge that Smoky Mountain Nationwide Park, a comparatively small space of 816 sq. miles, really drew greater than twice as many guests: 12.1 million to the 5 million who visited the 1,904 sq. miles of the Grand Canyon’s parks.
There are different parks within the survey that definitely drew extra guests. For example, Central Park in New York had 42 million guests (or every of the 1.63 million residents of Manhattan visiting about twice a month – 26 occasions – through the 12 months). However solely 78% gave the park wonderful critiques. That ranked fourth on the listing, although.
Others within the prime 10 based mostly on optimistic critiques have been:
- No. 3: Mackinac Bridge, Michigan: 9 million guests, 82%.
- No. 5: Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco: 10 million, 75%
- No. 6: Balboa Park, San Diego: 13 million, 74%.
- No. 7: Nationwide Mall, Washington, D.C.: 32 million, 73%.
- No. 8: Millennium Park, Chicago: 25 million, 71%.
- No. 9: Disney’s Epcot Middle, Orlando, Florida: 12.44 million, 71%.
- No. 10: Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Orlando: 20.4 million, 69%.
Household Locations Information does its personal “finest” lists on all kinds of trip matters, and in its launch about this evaluation, its authors supplied this: “Taking a look at critiques on-line is an effective way to get a second opinion of an attraction earlier than spending time or cash visiting.”
TripAdvisor claims practically 1 billion critiques of some 8 million companies and shops, from resorts and eating places to journey places.
So now that you recognize which of them received the best proportion of nice critiques, aren’t you interested by the underside of that listing? Household Locations compiled the “backside 10” as nicely.
On the backside was Venice Seashore in south Los Angeles, the place solely 37% of the ten million guests gave it a superb assessment. That was barely higher than the South Avenue Seaport in New York Metropolis, which generated 39% from 9 million guests.
The remainder of the underside 10, in reverse order:
- Navy Pier, Chicago: 9 million, 40%.
- Union Station, Washington D.C.: 40 million, 41%.
- Faneuil Corridor Market, Boston: 18 million, 47%.
- Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco: 10 million, 47%.
- Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota: 40 million, 52%.
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Orlando: 11.48 million, 57%.
- Instances Sq., New York Metropolis: 50 million,59%.
- Las Vegas Strip, Las Vegas, Nevada: 42 million, 59%.
In case you have been questioning concerning the inclusion of a few of these areas, the Nationwide Park Service claims greater than 424 “particular person models” in all 50 states. The Blue Ridge Parkway, as an example, is one in every of 4 such roadways listed.
NPS boasted practically 312 million guests in 2022, which is a little bit of a rise from the 120,690 in 1904, the primary 12 months a depend was saved. In these 118 years, greater than 15.7 trillion have visited a park.
