World’s Most Littered Tourist Attractions Revealed

Visitors are criticising some of the world’s best-known tourist attractions for visible litter, according to new research from Business Waste Ltd.

The study analysed Tripadvisor reviews for more than 140 major tourist attractions and ranked sites by the number and percentage of reviews mentioning “litter”. The ranking reflects visitor complaints and perceptions, rather than a physical litter audit. Still, it gives a useful indication of where waste has become noticeable enough for tourists to mention publicly.

Batu Caves in Malaysia ranked as the world’s most littered tourist attraction for the second year running, while Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon ranked second globally and first in the UK.

• Batu Caves ranked first, with 257 reviews mentioning litter.
• Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon was the UK’s most littered tourist attraction, with 1.04% of reviews mentioning litter.
• Blackpool Pleasure Beach was England’s most littered attraction in the study.
• Ben Nevis ranked fourth globally and was Scotland’s highest-ranked site.
• Eight of the top 10 most littered tourist attractions were in the UK.
• Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro ranked as the world’s cleanest tourist attraction, with zero litter mentions across 57,071 reviews.

Business Waste Ltd analysed TripAdvisor review data for major tourist attractions around the world.

The study examined:

• Total reviews for each attraction
• Reviews containing the word “litter”
• The percentage of reviews mentioning litter

The final rankings were based on the percentage of reviews that mentioned litter. This approach helps compare attractions of different sizes and visitor volumes more fairly.

A higher ranking does not necessarily mean a location has the highest physical volume of litter. It means visitors were more likely to mention litter in their reviews.

Tourist attractions often face unusual waste pressures. Unlike offices, shops, or factories, visitor numbers can change sharply depending on the season, weather, school holidays, event schedules, and transport links.

Common challenges include:

• High footfall during short peak periods
• Food and drink packaging used outdoors
• Bins filling faster than expected
• Visitors bringing waste from outside the site
• Wind spreading lightweight packaging
• Remote or difficult-to-access areas
• Limited vehicle access for collections
• Wildlife disturbing bins or loose waste

Outdoor and natural attractions face an additional challenge, as waste can become spread across paths, car parks, picnic areas, viewpoints, and open landscapes rather than remaining within one managed site.

Thirteen attractions in the study had no reviews mentioning litter. The 10 cleanest attractions were:

1. Sugarloaf Mountain, Brazil: 0 litter mentions from 57,071 reviews
2. Iguazu Falls, Brazil: 0 litter mentions from 45,801 reviews
3. Titanic Belfast, Northern Ireland: 0 litter mentions from 27,315 reviews
4. Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia: 0 litter mentions from 14,088 reviews
5. Sky Tower, New Zealand: 0 litter mentions from 11,860 reviews
6. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, England: 0 litter mentions from 9,472 reviews
7. Spinnaker Tower, England: 0 litter mentions from 6,454 reviews
8. Milford Sound, New Zealand: 0 litter mentions from 5,868 reviews
9. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia: 0 litter mentions from 4,274 reviews
10. Nazca Lines, Peru: 0 litter mentions from 3,291 reviews

This does not mean these sites never experience litter. It means litter was not mentioned in the reviews analysed.

Mark Hall, general waste expert at Business Waste Ltd, commented:

The world’s most littered tourist attractions are not necessarily badly managed sites. Many are large, busy, exposed, seasonal or difficult to maintain.

But the data shows how quickly litter can affect visitor perception. If people notice waste enough to mention it in reviews, it has already become part of the attraction’s public reputation.