Explore Worldwide has launched a new web game in which players can compare their travel history with Sir David Attenborough’s for the chance to win a holiday of a lifetime

Agents and their customers can enter the countries they’ve visited into Explore’s new interactive map to find out how ‘David Attenborough’ they are and for a chance win a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

Fun facts:

• The study reveals Attenborough has presented TV shows from 333 locations in 83 different countries
• The Explore team has analysed over 100 episodes of Sir David Attenborough’s documentaries to reveal all the countries the presenter has filmed in over the last 70 years
• Whilst Attenborough is one of the world’s most travelled people, the majority of over 70s (62 per cent) say there is somewhere in the world they regret never having visited
• The biggest travel regret of the older generation is never seeing the Northern Lights

Hot on the heels of Sir David Attenborough’s last travel documentary, Wild Isles, adventure travel specialist Explore Worldwide has undertaken a study to reveal the beloved presenter’s incredible travel history.

The study required researchers to watch hours and hours of Attenborough’s documentaries, dating back to 1955, to record all the locations he is seen presenting from.

The data has been visualised in an interactive map, allowing people to see all Sir David’s visited destinations in one place, and then to enter their own list of travelled-to destinations, to see how their own travel history measures up.

With such an astonishing travel career under his belt, it’s hard to imagine that Attenborough has many places left on his wishlist, let alone any travel regrets.

However, according to a new survey from Explore the majority of people aged 70 or over do have ‘travel regrets’, with 62 per cent saying there is somewhere in the world they regret never having visited.

Some of the countries mentioned frequently as travel regrets include Australia, New Zealand, USA, Japan, and Canada.

When looking at specific travel experiences, one in three people over 70 say they regret never seeing the Northern Lights, making it the travel experience most people regret never doing.

Other missed experiences most regretted among this age group include seeing the Great Pyramids of Giza, visiting Machu Pichu and African safaris.

Michael Edwards, Managing Director at Explore says “Everyone at Explore is in complete awe of Sir David Attenborough. His sense of adventure and curiosity has inspired so many, and with his final documentary airing we wanted to celebrate his travel achievements. By comparing your own travel history with Attenborough’s, our interactive map provides an original way to inspire people to keep on exploring our incredible planet.

“With our research showing that so many people aged over 70 regret not having visited more of the world, we hope our new map encourages travellers to keep on exploring, to keep on discovering new things and to embrace their inner-David Attenborough.”

To provide people with the chance to visit more exciting destinations and be ‘more David Attenborough’ Explore Worldwide is offering a lucky winner the chance to win an incredible adventure holiday, with the winner able to choose from once-in-a-lifetime trips to Madagascar, Costa Rica or the Orkney Islands. Simply enter the destinations you have visited into their interactive map and enter the prize draw for your chance to win. Terms and conditions apply.

Last week, Explore gave early access to the platform to its staff and customers, and the tool has since had more than 3,000 entrants. The average Explore employee is 45 per cent David Attenborough.

Spanning from new starters at 10 per cent Attenborough to Directors with 30 years’ experience in the industry who, having visited over a hundred countries, are ‘more David Attenborough than Sir David Attenborough’!

Here are just a couple of examples:

Bang on Explore-average at 45 per cent David Attenborough, Michelle Bisang joined the Explore marketing team last October as Marketing Projects Coordinator. Born and raised in Switzerland, she’s since visited 36 countries – her favourite of which has been Indonesia.

Next on her list is the two-week Botswana Wildlife Safari. Ben Ittensohn, Regional Director Australia and New Zealand, is 51 per cent David Attenborough having travelled to 45 countries.

Last year he Hiked Turkey’s Lycian Way and top of his bucket list for 2023 are the rainforests and wildlife of Costa Rica.

James Adkin, Programme Manager for Asia, is responsible for designing Explore’s small group cultural, walking and cycling tours in the region.

He’s also the mastermind behind its UK and cycling programmes. James is 76 per cent David Attenborough having travelled to 62 countries.
He’s recently returned from Japan but Spain continues to hold on to first place in his heart, for its food, landscapes and culture. On the bucket list? It has to be Antarctica and South Georgia.

He’s been to Madagascar. Have you?

The average Explore customer is 37 per cent David Attenborough, having visited 29 countries.

Most visited countries? Apart from the United States, all 12 of the top-visited countries are in Europe.

In direct contrast, the countries most-added to wish lists were somewhat farther flung:

1. Madagascar

2. Seychelles

3. New Zealand

4. Guinea

5. Japan

6. Chile

7. Brazil

8. Fiji

9. Botswana

10. Costa Rica

11. Georgia

12. Argentina

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