We ranked 100 travel destinations by their combined YouTube view count. The most glamorous destinations did not win. The winner was determined purely by how much the world wants to watch videos about it.
The destinations that dominate YouTube are not necessarily the most visited. They are the most dreamed about. YouTube view counts are a measure of desire, not just tourism.
Iceland consistently outperforms destinations with ten times its annual tourist numbers. A country of 370,000 people generates billions of YouTube views because its landscapes are so visually extraordinary.
Patagonia, at the southern tip of South America, has a fraction of the accessibility of Paris or New York. Yet it generates views that would make major cities jealous. Wild places photograph beautifully. Beautiful photographs become viral videos.