The Department of Tourism (DOT) is set to negotiate with Miss Universe organizers next week after getting the approval of President Duterte for the country to host next year's Miss Universe pageant.
Tourism Undersecretary Kat de Castro said the Tourism Deparment will be in talks with Miss Universe president Paula Shugart and her team, who will be arriving in the country this weekend.
“We will still negotiate for the exact figure. Should it push through, the event will be sponsored by the private sector,” she said.
“Miss Universe Org did assure us that the franchise fee will be much less that what they had in Russia and Brazil,” de Castro added.
DOT Secretary Wanda Tulfo Teo said sponsoring the Miss Universe pageant will help boost tourism in the country. “The President agreed that sponsoring the event would be a tourism marketing coup with the Philippines’ Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach at the helm,” she said.
“Sponsoring Miss Universe is our focus right now, with the plan and sources of funding in tow,” the Tourism chief continued.
Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach is expected to return to the country this weekend and will make a courtesy call to Duterte.
Teo said once Wurtzbach announces that Miss Universe is going to be held in the Philippines, people around the world will start checking their maps to see where Philippines is located.
“We will be broadcasted all over the world; we expect more tourists to come to the Philippines and that’s the benefit that we will get,” she said.
Teo, who had hosting of the pageant as her pitch upon her takeover as the new Tourism head, said it was the Miss Universe team that actually offered it to the country.
“They offered it to us because of Pia,” she explained. “There were a lot of bidders but it was offered to us by the organizers.”
Once agreements are settled, segments of the month-long beauty pageant will be filmed in various tourist sites in Palawan, Boracay and Cebu – which ranked 1st, 2nd and 6th as The World's Best Islands 2016 of 2016 in a poll conducted by New York-based Travel and Leisure magazine.
Photo: Rappler
Source: PhilStar
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