Progress

Singapore is world’s most instagrammable place in 2022: Travel site

UK Travel website Big 7 Travel has placed Singapore on the top of the list of the most instagrammable places in the world for 2022.

Singapore edged out Boracay, Philippines to clinch the top spot in the site’s annual list of 50 Most Instagrammable Places in the World. For the past two editions, Singapore was in 11th place in 2021 and 5th in 2020.

The travel website’s methodology includes analysing the number of hashtags per destination and survey results from their social audience (over 500,000 followers on Facebook; 380,000 followers on Instagram and 340,000 followers on Twitter), and input from their editorial team .

Here are the top 20:

  1. Singapore
  2. Boracay, Philippines
  3. Oahu, Hawaii
  4. Tokyo, Japan
  5. New York City, New York
  6. Banff, Canada
  7. Amalfi Coast, Italy
  8. Chicago, Illinois
  9. Lisbon, Portugal
  10. Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
  11. Wadi Rum, Jordan
  12. London, England
  13. Sydney, Australia
  14. Santorini, Greece
  15. Paris, France
  16. North Island, New Zealand
  17. Hong Kong
  18. Edinburgh, Scotland
  19. Hoi An, Vietnam
  20. Bali, Indonesia

Here’s what it wrote about Singapore:

“This tiny city-state off southern Malaysia is full of photo-ops. From the iconic Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay to the vibrant kaleidoscope of street art through Haji Lane. In addition to permanent gems, since Singapore is one of Asia’s art hubs, there’s almost always a unique exhibit going on perfect for those ‘wow’ pics. Be sure to stroll the streets of Koon Seng Road known for their colourful houses and don’t forget to procure the Tan Teng Niah’s house for a truly breathtaking photo.”

Supertree Grove

Source: Gardens by the Bay

Haji Lane

Source: Haji Lane SG Facebook page

Koon Seng Road

Source: Wikipedia

Tan Teng Niah House

Source: Roots.sg

The progress we’ve made

It’s not a stretch to call Singapore a metropolis now but for outsiders, it must feel like a stretch to know that just one generation ago, Singapore was just a mudflat, trying to survive in the world without the benefit of any hinterland.

Today, we have iconic SuperTrees that even made an appearance on Ultraman.

The progress, however, cannot be taken for granted.

At the recent Singapore Perspectives on Jan. 13, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said Singapore’s continued success is dependant on drawing key lessons from great cities such as New York, Jericho and Chang’an.

Minister Ong also said that Singapore, through decades of hard work and enterprise, has become a smartphone that has all the crucial data and apps, making it users hard to switch out.

“We leveraged our geographical location to build a trading hub, and from there, other strategic industries – manufacturing, tourism, biomedical, finance and infocomms, aviation, research and development.”

The cityscape, like Singapore, will keep improving. He added: “We have long-term plans to reinvent our cityscape, such as developing the land to be vacated by Paya Lebar Air Base, and reimagining our city centre with the inclusion of the Greater Southern Waterfront, which is the size of three Marina Bays.

“The city centre will look entirely different, decades from now.”

With the right politics and governance, there will surely be more iconic, instagrammable places in Singapore in the future.

Cover photo credit: Gardens By the Bay