The world loves this Aussie Instagram

IT'S OFFICIAL. Images of Australia are among the most 'liked' in the world, at least on social media site Instagram.

Tourism Australia's page @Australia has just clicked over 1 million followers making it by far the most successful national destination page in the world.

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In comparison, the Canadian Tourism Commission (@explorecanada) has 131,000 followers on Instagram, Tourism New Zealand (@purenewzealand) just 30,000, Visit Britain (@lovegreatbritain) a mere 11,000 and South Africa Tourism (@meetsouthafrica) 6000.

Even an official guide to New York City has only attracted 16,000 followers.

A team of social media experts employed by Tourism Australia is responsible for choosing images posted on the page, from thousands submitted by travellers and tourism operators each day.

Some, in particular cute animal pics, attract in excess of 50,000 likes.

But TA Managing Director John O'Sullivan said the Instagram page was about more than big numbers and pretty pictures.

'The page actually plays an important part in increasing holiday preference for Australia,' Mr O'Sullivan said.

In a recent survey of more than 1300 Tourism Australia Instagram followers, 69 per cent of Australian respondents said they thought posting photos on the site could help promote travel down under.

Another 88 per cent said the page had influenced their likelihood of travelling more around Australia.

Of the international followers, 91 per cent said @Australia had inspired them to find out more about Australia as a holiday destination, and 87 per cent said the content made them more likely to travel here.

One US follower wrote 'I never thought I would want to go to Australia before I joined Instagram. Now I can't imagine not going. So beautiful'.

Another wrote: 'I'll be spending six weeks in Australia next year. I can't wait to set foot on the continent that's intrigued me for years'.

Mr O'Sullivan said one of the biggest benefits of having such a large Instagram following was being able to provide a platform for Australian tourism businesses to showcase their product and

experiences to a global audience.

'This is great for Australian tourism and particularly for those operators who are positively

embracing social media and using platforms such as our Instagram page to promote their own

tourism business,' he said.

Instagram has more than 300 million monthly users worldwide, 70 per cent of whom are outside the US.