Travel art challenge study draws links between creativity and holidays

Liberal arts: The Statue of Liberty is the most recognisable, and easiest drawn landmark. Photo / Supplied

Picture the Sydney Opera House.

Of course you know what it looks like, but can you draw it?

The art skills of 132 English-speaking tourists were recently tested to see who could draw a series of landmarks from memory.

The results were a mixed bag.

From the one traveller whose Sphinx resembled a crook rabbit to another smart –Alec artist who drew Big Ben as a bell (insisting 'if they wanted a picture of the famous London landmark they should have asked for the Palace of Westminster') - the study got a whole range of submissions.

Easy Pisa: Landmarks that were the most well known weren't necessarily the easiest to draw. Photo / Supplied

Drawings ranged from 'good', 'bad' to the downright 'unrecognisable'.

But the purpose of the study was not to test the travellers' drawing credentials.

Conducted by Bayut, the research set out to prove a theory that "travel heightens creativity".

According to previous research travel is good for "physical health, can help reduce stress, heighten creativity, and increase happiness" but the researchers wanted to test if travel increases visual memory and creativity.

It certainly failed to produce the next Picasso.

Eyesores: Badly drawn landmarks. Photo / Supplied

Scoring each of the 132 travellers across the twelve landmarks, scores out of 10 were given for confidence in the travellers' ability to draw said landmarks and the accuracy of the resulting drawings.

From this we can tell you: The Statue of Liberty is the most recognisabl landmark in the world, with only 1.5 per cent of travellers having no idea what it looked like.

And the remaining travellers had a good go at drawing it – with an average accuracy of 4.7 out of 10.

Pictures were rated from most accurate to least, and artists from most confident to confused. Illustration / Supplied

This would make sense as New York is one of the most visited cities in the world, with 13 million overnight visitors last year.

However, the theory was turned on its head when 43 per cent of participants admitted not knowing what the Burj Khalifa looked like - and the remaining drawings made with only 20 per cent accuracy.

Big Ben and The Parthenon, as interpreted by Travellers. Photo / Supplied

Dubai, at the centre of which the Burj stands as the tallest building, welcomed 16 million overnight visitors. More than New York, Singapore or even Tokyo.

The Dubai-based researchers seemed a little hurt by visitors' inability to draw either the local landmarks of the Burj or Palm Jumeirah.

Landmarks: Lady liberty is the most recognisable, and surprisingly easy to draw. Source / bayut.com

While the research proved little beyond the fact that there are few cities as unmemorable as the Middle Eastern hub, it did prove that certain landmarks are extremely difficult to draw.

It turns out Big Ben is the most difficult landmark to draw in the world.

In spite of being the landmark the travellers were most confident about, only 10 per cent of drawings were deemed accurate.

The big take away from this study? Don't forget to pack a camera.