Niagara Falls' White Water Walk tops 'most dangerous' North American attractions list
· Toronto Sun
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Niagara Falls’ White Water Walk has been ranked the “most dangerous” attraction in North America based on online reviews, according to a recent study.
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Analyzing Tripadvisor reviews for hazard-related language, PolicyAdvisor researchers found that the popular boardwalk where visitors can view the Niagara River’s whitewater rapids had the highest hazard-related mentions per 100 reviews.
Researchers at PolicyAdvisor , a Canadian online insurance broker, came to this conclusion after combing reviews of 86 popular tourist attractions across the U.S. and Canada on Tripadvisor, searching them for words like “dangerous,” “unsafe,” “risk,” “injury,” “accident,” and “emergency.”
When examining the data, the researchers found 168 hazard-related mentions across 4,393 reviews for White Water Walk, giving it a rate of 3.82 mentions per 100 reviews — the highest of any attraction in the study.
The study noted that its results were based on measuring safety-related language and were not based on verified accident reports or crime rates.
Regarding reviews for White Water Walk, the study said the word “dangerous” comes up most often, which it attributed to reviews describing the “powerful Class 6 rapids and the potential fall hazards around the steep Niagara Gorge.”
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Other Canadian attractions among the top 5
Eight other Canadian attractions were also flagged in the PolicyAdvisor study, earning spots among the list’s top 10.
Coming in second place was Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada in downtown Toronto, which the study said had 532 hazard-related mentions across 20,886 Tripadvisor reviews, giving it a rate of 2.55 mentions per 100 reviews.
The word “dangerous” was also most often used in reviews for the Toronto aquarium, though the study noted that the aquarium has a glass moving underwater tunnel called the “Dangerous Lagoon,” which “may account for at least some uses of the word.”
Other popular attractions with the most hazard-related mentions on TripAdvisor were B.C.’s Whistler Blackcomb and Alberta’s Columbia Icefield, which earned the third and fourth spots on the list, respectively.
Rounding out the top five was New Orleans’ French Quarter, with “unsafe” being the most often used keyword.
Four of the top 10 “dangerous” attractions were located in Vancouver, with the city’s historic Gastown neighbourhood and the Vancouver Aquarium ranking sixth and seventh, respectively on the list.
“The results are interesting because the same safety-related language appears around very different types of attraction,” PolicyAdvisor CEO Jiten Puri said of the study’s findings.
“At places such as White Water Walk, Whistler Blackcomb and Columbia Icefield, visitors are dealing with fast-moving water, mountain terrain, ice and changing weather. In the French Quarter or downtown Vancouver, the concerns are more likely to involve personal security and the surrounding area.”
PolicyAdvisor top 10 “most dangerous” attractions in North America
- White Water Walk – Niagara Falls, Ont.
- Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada – Toronto
- Whistler Blackcomb – Whistler, B.C.
- Columbia Icefield – Jasper National Park, Alta.
- French Quarter – New Orleans, La.
- Gastown – Vancouver
- Vancouver Aquarium – Vancouver
- Moraine Lake – Banff National Park, Alta.
- Vancouver Seawall – Vancouver
- Vancouver Downtown – Vancouver