This Was Uber’s Most Visited Tourist Destination in 2018
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Now that Uber is a global company, it has heaps of data on how people move all over the world. It’s using that data to help urban planners, but has also been caught in some sticky situations with tracking riders and drivers after they’ve closed out of the app.
However, it’s lead to some interesting findings about the way people use the service, which the ride-hailing company released in its key global trends from 2018 as well as predictions for 2019.
Uber is a popular tool to use when traveling, so the company listed its top 15 tourists destinations for 2018. And they aren’t all that surprising:
- Empire State Building
- Freedom Tower
- CN Tower
- Arc de Triomphe
- Eiffel Tower
- Burj Khalifa
- Buckingham Palace
- Disneyland
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Sydney Opera House
- The Blue Mosque
- Berlin Wall
- The Vatican
- Christ the Redeemer
- Great Pyramid of Giza
Uber even claims to have found someone who’d give Brian Kelly or Zach Honig a run for their money, this person took Uber trips in more than 126 cities this year!
The busiest day of the year for Uber was St. Patrick’s Day, and living up to the title of “The City That Never Sleeps,” New Yorkers took the most rides after 2am.
In terms of actual miles traveled the US, Brazil and India took the top three spots, which can be explained considering their large populations and sprawling geography.
Not to be forgotten, riders of Uber’s new scooters and Jump Bikes have already put nearly 4.1 million miles on the services.
One of fastest growing parts of Uber’s business is its food delivery service, Uber Eats. True to its millennial user base, the two trendiest food items were toast and avocado. Here are the top 25 food items ordered through the service:
- Toast
- Avocado
- Black colored foods/goth food
- Cucumber
- Wings
- Tofu
- Soup
- Celery
- Tuna
- Tacos
- Salmon
- Coconut
- Brown Rice
- Hummus
- Kale
- Seaweed
- Poke
- Sushi
- Sriracha
- Acai
- “Bowls”
- Tea
- Truffle
- Edamame
- Barbecue
Two standout orders include $1,546 spent on one order of Chinese pastries and another $995 order from Papa John’s pizzas. Seattle saw the most coffee orders out of any cities, likely from a little known business named Starbucks…

Uber says it’s seeing more people turn to healthier food options instead of the traditional delivery foods like pizza and Chinese food. That includes vegetarian items like tofu and seitan as well as other plant-based foods like bee pollen and edible flowers. Fermented foods (i.e. kombucha and kimchi) and alternative milks (i.e. pea milk) are on the rise on the delivery service.
Finally, the survey found that recently trendy foods are on the decline as we approach the new year. These include instagram favorites like acai and rainbow-colored foods:
- Brussel sprouts
- Unicorn / rainbow foods
- Aloe vera
- Dragonfruit
- Seaweed
- Acai
- Avocado
- Sushiritos
- Millennial pink foods
- Cold brew
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