FILIPINO queen Liana Barrido does not have to worry about feeling lonely when she relinquishes her Miss Tourism International title this year because the 2025 competition will take place in the Philippines.
The Mutya ng Pilipinas organization made the announcement in a press conference held in Makati City on January 22.
The international pageant’s president, Tan Sri Datuk Danny Ooi, flew to Manila from Kuala Lumpur to attend the event. He told INQUIRER.net in an interview that the national pageant officials went to see his 2024 final and asked if he would want to bring it to Manila.
“There are quite a number of countries, like Nigeria, but I did not select the place. The Philippines is okay, it’s very close, only three and a half hours (away),” he said.
“The Philippines has many places to offer. So the world final will probably be held in Davao. But we’ll still have activities in Manila,” added the Malaysian pageant owner.
This is the first time that the Miss Tourism International pageant will be held outside Malaysia. Two virtual editions were held during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 and 2021.
“I thought it’s a good time to help the country, Philippines, in terms of tourism. Because ours is Miss Tourism International, so probably it’s a good opportunity for Philippines to have 45 to 50 countries by November,” Ooi said.
Barrido is the sixth Filipino woman to snag the title, following Peachy Manzano (2000), the late Rizzini Alexis Gomez (2012), Angeli Dione Gomez (2013), Jannie Alipo-on (2017) and reigning The Miss Philippines-Charm Cyrille Payumo (2019).
This will be the second global competition affiliated with the Mutya ng Pilipinas organization to hold its 2025 contest in the Philippines.
In November last year, the national organization announced that the third Miss Environment International pageant will take place in Manila in June. (Armin P. Adina © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
