It's more that it's a leveling system, and most people look for the easiest and most abusable exploration techniques that will allow them to level fastest as opposed to taking a grand hike across the entire continent digging up random statues along the way.
I do agree though that Iria could use more exploration-worthy areas in terms of just running around for the sake of the eye candy. More caves and dungeons would be a nice start.
Exploration leveling is the most important aspect of Iria exploration, and I think people choose the fastest way to do it because it becomes trite from redundancy after a while. There needs to be more entertaining dungeons and activities that that are as equally as rewarding as running around and listening to beeps.