Maldives ranks second among world’s most beautiful countries

A company called FutureBrand has recently issued its fourth annual Country Brand Index, which ranks nations using various tourism-related criteria. This year, Chile appears in the index for the first time, coming in 10th among all countries in the “natural beauty” category.

“I’m happy we’ve made the top 10 beauty ranking, but we really ought to be higher,” top government tourism official Oscar Santelices told the daily La Tercera.

First on the beauty list – which was compiled via interviews with nearly 3,000 travelers and tourism experts from 30 countries – is New Zealand. The Maldives Islands came in second, followed by Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Ireland, Canada, Scotland and Tahiti.