South Australia named as one of ‘most welcoming regions on Earth’
South Australia has been named in a list of the “most welcoming regions on Earth” by Booking.com. It shared the list with nine other regions from around the world, including places like Bretagne, France and Kien Giang, Vietnam.
Booking.com also named two Sunshine Coast hinterland towns – Montville and Maleny – as Australia’s most welcoming in its annual list revealed on Tuesday.
The travel bookings website based its findings – the 13th annual list it has produced – on more than 360 million verified customer reviews. This year, its annual awards recognised a record-breaking 1.71 million partners, including more than 1.7 million accommodations, 1329 rental car companies and 124 taxi providers.
Italy had the most award recipients, followed by France, Spain, Germany and Britain. The United States, Poland, Brazil, Greece and Croatia rounded out the top 10.
“Our Booking.com partners go above and beyond to help create memorable travel moments,” the website’s Oceania manager, Todd Lacey, said.
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“We’re thrilled to see South Australia recognised on the global stage this year, and are looking forward to continuing to support our local partners as they welcome visitors to the state’s world-class events, wine regions and scenic landscapes.”
Destinations on the list were sorted by their total share of Traveller Review Award 2025 recipients. They also had to have an above-average number of winners to be included on this list (200 award recipients or higher for cities and regions) and were curated for geographic spread.
South Australian Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison welcomed the announcement.
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“It’s no news to locals, but now the world knows that South Australia is among the most welcoming regions in the world. The fact that this highly regarded accolade is based on more than 360 million reviews on the leading travel site, Booking.com is an honour and will put our state on the consideration list of engaged potential visitors worldwide,” she said.
“From the Adelaide Hills to Kangaroo Island, from the Barossa to the Murray River and the Flinders Ranges, guests will always be warmly welcomed in South Australia.”
Apart from South Australia, the only other Southern Hemisphere location to make the regional list is the rugged province of Misiones in north-eastern Argentina. The remainder of the list features Vietnam, Mexico and six European destinations.
Montville and Maleny
Queensland’s two winning towns are popular tourist destinations just 15 minutes’ drive apart, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland about half an hour from Maroochydore.
Montville is a quaint village in the Blackall Range, with plenty of scenery, natural attractions, restaurants and boutique shops. Down the road, Maleny offers views of the Glasshouse Mountains and more shops, art galleries and cafes.
The full list of Australia’s most welcoming cities takes in most other states. After the two Queensland towns, the surf and wine sport of Margaret River in Western Australia, the Central Tablelands town of Mudgee in NSW and the surf centre of Ocean Grove round out the top five.
