Boracay Ranks 9th in the World’s Best Sunset Destinations—Study

Boracay has been among the go-to travel destinations of both locals and tourists. With its white-sand beaches, crystal-clear waters, stunning sunset views, and amusing nightlife, there’s no doubt why many people keep coming back.

In a study conducted by travel and luggage experts from Bounce, Boracay ranked ninth in the world’s best sunset destinations. The destinations on the list were evaluated based on their social media popularity, pollution levels, and total number of recommendations.

According to Bounce, they recorded the number of mentions of each destination using articles from Tui, Time Out, and Forbes. The combined “sunset” and “sunrise” Instagram posts were also part of analyzing the destinations on the list, including the “sunset score.”

“Using Instagram, the name of the destination followed by “sunset” and “sunrise” was searched to find the total number of posts. E.g., #santorinisunset. This data is correct as of 26/06/2023. These were added together to obtain the total number of posts,” the study explained.

Boracay got 47,616 sunset Instagram posts and 1,567 sunrise Instagram posts, bringing it to 49,183 combined sunset and sunrise Instagram posts. Meanwhile, its sunset score was 7.94/10.

Another factor that Bounce considered in this study was light pollution. Experts said they used the Light Pollution Map to collect the artificial light pollution in every destination. 

ALSO READ: Boracay Ranks Among 50 Most Instagrammable Places in the World – Big 7 Travel

“The destinations recording below 0 μcd/m2 were removed from the ranking for the destinations with the lowest light pollution to avoid inaccuracies,” the study stated.

Boracay obtained 122 μcd/m2 of light pollution, which is moderately high. 

Uluru topped the list with 29,560 combined sunset and sunrise Instagram posts, 0.973 μcd/m2 of light pollution, and a 9.13 sunset score. It was followed by Maldives, which garnered 24,399 combined sunset and sunrise Instagram posts, 0.219 μcd/m2 of light pollution, and a 9.07 sunset score. 

In other categories, Bounce revealed that Santorini, Greece is the most recommended sunset destination, with 16 recommendations out of 17 different blogs and articles. 

Bali, Indonesia, became the most Instagrammed sunset destination that recorded 184,848 tagged posts for sunset, and 27,118 posts for sunrise, totaling 211,966 Instagram mentions.  

Then, for the least light-polluted sunset destinations, the Galápagos Islands earned the spot, as it acquired the lowest light pollution out of 118 sunset destinations.

You can view the full study here: https://usebounce.com/blog/sunset-skies-2023.