According to Tourism Sentiment Index's 'Leading Places: The 100 Most Loved Destinations Around the World for 2021', the Shoalhaven is the 93rd most loved destination in the world

Being named in the rankings means Shoalhaven has earned the love and an impressive Tourism Sentiment Score® during one of the toughest years the tourism industry has faced.

Shoalhaven City Council's Tourism Manager Coralie Bell said the top 100 ranking was welcomed news.

"It's an honour for the Shoalhaven to be included in the 100 most loved destinations on earth," she said.

"It's a huge accomplishment in these difficult times for our tourism industry.

"Our community and businesses rely on tourism which supports 6000 jobs and is a $billion industry annually."

She added COVID-19 had hit the tourism sector hard.

"It's a long road to recovery after losing more than 200 million dollars in 2020 alone due to COVID-19 lockdowns but our tourism operators are championing a big comeback and it's fantastic that travellers think we're amazing too," the tourism manager added.

Shoalhaven's success as a much-loved destination can be attributed to the resilient operators who have pivoted through challenges such as bushfires, floods, and pandemics to deliver new unique experiences with friendly South Coast hospitality that makes holidaymakers feel special.

Through consistent destination marketing efforts, the diverse Shoalhaven wine coast and humpback whale experiences have been brought to the forefront for off-peak holidays, while helping increase yearly visitor traffic and putting a spotlight on the region as a year-round destination.

The Shoalhaven is also blessed geographically with an adventure-based playground of 100 beaches, national parks, and forests for everyone to enjoy.

Tourism Sentiment Index conducted an intensive study of its data - more than 1.6 billion online conversations and content pieces publicly available about 21,330 global destinations - to identify the 100 Most Loved Destinations.

Tourism Sentiment Index is cutting-edge technology that applies the power of artificial intelligence to the challenge of deciphering sentiment from human expression.

This technology produces a novel metric for destination marketing: Tourism Sentiment Score®.

This is the metric that the tourism industry has been missing since the dawn of the internet.

"Our region is unique and evolving, being recognised globally by the Tourism Sentiment Index as a loved destination boosts our already strong reputation for 2022 with the hopes of welcoming new and returning visitors to our region paving the way for another successful year," Coralie Bell said.