Dubai is the third most 'Pinterested' city in the world

The emirate has more Pinterest boards than cities such as Rome, Barcelona and New York

Dubai is the third most 'pinned' city in the world on Pinterest says hotel group Premier Inn. Unsplash

Dubai is the third most pinned city on Pinterest, according to a new study.

London is the most popular city in terms of number of travel inspiration boards created by users on the platform, followed by Paris and Dubai, says hotel chain Premier Inn.

Pinterest is a social media and sharing site that's largely used for planning and ideas via inspiration boards. With travel largely on pause for the moment, people are using it to document ideas for where they most want to visit, presumably once it's safe to do so again.

The Premier Inn hotel group analysed the number of boards on Pinterest created for over 500 cities across the world which mentioned "holiday" or "vacation", and Dubai was ranked in the top three.

The emirate had 1,911 boards, just 81 less than London in first place and 70 fewer than Paris which ranked second. Dubai beat out other global cities in the top 10 including Rome, Barcelona, Orlando, New York, Venice, Boston and San Diego.

A focus on the Middle East

Abu Dhabi ranked as the second most pinned city in the Middle East in the Pinterest survey by Premier Inn. Courtesy Al Maya Island

The study also looked at the most pinned destinations across the Middle East.

Dubai ranked first by a huge margin and in second place was its UAE neighbour, Abu Dhabi which was pinned 156 times. In third place was Tel Aviv with 65 boards, closely followed by Jordan's Amman and Oman's Muscat.

In the UK, the Scottish capital of Edinburgh was the second most pinned destination after London, while across the pond in the United States Orlando ranked in first place, with New York a close second.

In Australia and New Zealand, the most popular destinations for travellers, according to Pinterest, are Sydney, followed by Melbourne, the Gold Coast and Cairns.

Asia's top Pinterest cities are Tokyo, followed by Hong Kong and Thailand's Bangkok. Egypt’s Cairo is the most pinned African city on Pinterest, with Cape Town and Marrakech also proving popular.