On May 20, 2025, Viktoria Kirichenko, host of the show “Watch Out, Provocateurs” on the Evening Political Channel on YouTube from the Minsk-News agency, spoke about Poland’s lagging tourism and rising crime. She invited the country's neighbors to visit Belarus.
“It would be a shame not to visit a country that made the world’s top 50. It even ranked above Poland, which comes as no surprise. While Lithuania and Latvia didn’t even make the list,” the anchor said.
Viktoria Kirichenko was likely referring to the United Nations World Tourism Organization ranking. The list is based on the number of tourists who visited each country in 2021. Belarus came in at No. 48, with 3.6 million foreign visitors. Belarus did not surpass Poland; our neighbor ranked No. 2. Lithuania and Latvia are also on the list: Lithuania is at No. 60, and Latvia is at No. 52.
In the Welcoming Countries Rank 2022, Belarus placed No. 47. Lithuania, Latvia and Poland all shared the No. 46 spot. In the latest ranking for 2025, Belarus dropped to No. 53, while its neighboring countries once again ranked one spot higher.