Department of Tourism will showcase tourism destinations in the Philippines during the Miss Universe 2017.
The Philippine government said on Thursday that the hosting of the country of Miss Universe pageant in January will showcase tourism destinations.
This is because the Department of Tourism is taking advantage of the international exposure that the Philippines will get during the airing of the Miss Universe pageant next year.
The Miss Universe 2017 coronation night would be held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay on Jan. 30, 2017.
In a press conference on Thursday, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo expressed the agency intend to take the Miss Universe candidates on a tour of different destinations in the Philippines. This mainly aims to attract more visitors to the country.
According to Teo, the candidates will be visiting various tourist spots in the country, including areas from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Here, they will have the photo shoots and other pageant events as part of the preliminaries.
Some of the places she mentioned are Bicol, Davao and Iloilo. Earlier, there was a plan to include Negros Occidental in the itinerary.
“Not just Cebu, not just Boracay, not just Palawan,” she said. “I would like them (candidates) to see other places in the Philippines na hindi nafea-feature (that are not usually featured in the media).”
During the same press conference, the Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo announced the confirmation that the controversial Steve Harvey will be the host of the pageant.
According to the DOT Secretary, she has yet to talk to the Miss Universe organization regarding the possibility that Harvey may have a Filipino co-host during the coronation night.
“Ang importante ay tuloy and we are happy na tuloy na (ang Miss Universe sa Pilipinas),” Teo said.
Hosting the pageant next year will be the Philippines’ third since it has so far hosted Miss Universe twice – in 1974 and 1994.
The country has three Miss Universe winners including the reigning Pia Wurtzbach.