Upside-Down Sunset Sculpture Draws Crowds to Australia

Every evening in Geraldton, Australia, crowds gather in front of a clear sphere filled with liquid to watch something magical: the sun setting upside down over the Indian Ocean.

The Horizon Ball sculpture inverts whatever appears behind it, creating photos that have gone viral across social media platforms worldwide. Chinese app Xiaohongshu and even AI chatbots now recommend the installation as a must-see destination.

Cloris Zhou traveled from Shanghai specifically to see it. "A lot of Chinese people recommend this place for the amazing sunset, so my friend and I drove here to witness it," she said. "It's a unique experience we won't have in China or anywhere else."

The sculpture sits 420 kilometers north of Perth in a regional city that wasn't on most tourist maps until recently. Now visitors from Taiwan, Germany, and across Asia are making the journey, often combining it with stops at nearby attractions like Hutt Lagoon's famous pink waters.

Brett Low and his friends flew from Taiwan for just six days in Australia, and the Horizon Ball made their itinerary. German tourist Ralph Wilkes discovered it through ChatGPT when he asked for Geraldton recommendations during his road trip.

The Ripple Effect

The sculpture's popularity is transforming the region's economy in remarkable ways. International overnight visitors to Australia's Coral Coast region reached 69,200 in the year ending June 2025, a 50% jump from the previous year and the biggest tourism increase across all of Western Australia.

Even more impressive, international visitor spending surged nearly 80% to $103 million. Tourism officials say the Horizon Ball deserves significant credit for putting Geraldton on the global map.

"It's really becoming an attraction in its own right now," said David O'Malley from Australia's Coral Coast tourism board. Visitors photograph the sculpture and share it with hundreds of thousands of people globally, creating a virtuous cycle of discovery.

The rise reflects how travel is changing in the AI age, with more than 60% of travelers now using artificial intelligence tools to research and book trips. A single beautiful sculpture is proving that sometimes the simplest ideas create the biggest waves.