Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Latvia, Tourism

First Choice is asking holidaymakers to pin images of the most beautiful country in the world on Pinterest, or describe which country deserves the moniker on Twitter, producing some surprising results, informs dailymail.co.uk.

So far in the competition Latvia has received an amazing 36 per cent of the vote on Twitter and Pinterest, putting it streets ahead of its closest rivals.

Mexico and Turkey also make it into the top three, with 11 and five per cent of the votes respectively, while the United Kingdom comes fifth after Indonesia and before Italy.

Other well-known holiday destinations have made it into the top ten countries for beauty, including New Zealand in seventh place, followed by Brazil, India, Canada and Ireland.

But some unusual countries have beaten old favourites among Pinterest and Twitter users. Colombia ranks in 16th place, ahead of France in 20th, while Croatia's stunning coastlines take 13th place, pipping Greece to the post in 17th place.

Latvia, located in the Baltic region of Europe and keen to shed its post-Soviet image, is still little-discovered by mass tourism, boasts crystal-blue waters on the coast, beautiful natural offerings such as the Gauja National Park and an exciting, bustling capital, full of energetic locals and art-nouveau architecture in Riga.

So far the most beautiful countries in the world, according to First Choice entries are:

1 -  Latvia
2 -  Mexico
3 -  Turkey
4 -  Indonesia
5 -  United Kingdom
6 -  Italy
7 -  New Zealand
8 -  Brazil
9 -  India
10 - Canada
11 - Ireland
12 - United States of America
13 - Croatia
14 - Switzerland
15 - Australia
16 - Colombia
17 - Greece
18 - Peru
19 - Portugal
20 – France