60 beauty queens in Zimbabwe for world pageant

60 beauty queens in Zimbabwe for world pageant

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By Staff Reporter

MORE than 60 beauty queens from around the world arrived in Zimbabwe on Sunday for the Miss Tourism World pageant to be held in the resort town of Victoria Falls on February 26.

The models bring to 100 the total number of beauty queens that are in the southern African country for the grand occasion, which is being held in Africa for the first time in 20 years.

Head of media planning for the Miss Tourism World, Michael Orji,said that 11 more contestants were being expected.

He said 21 of the models who arrived on Sunday would proceed to Victoria Falls while the rest would remain in the capital.

President of the pageant, John Singh, said the event would provide Zimbabwe with the opportunity to showcase its tourism potential to the world.

"The face of the Zimbabwean tourism has changed today as the touch down of these girls is an eloquent testimony to the fact that Zimbabwe is indeed a safe tourist and investment destination," Singh said.

Orji said most contestants from Europe were very excited about coming to Africa and Zimbabwe in particular.

Zimbabwe's tourism industry has since hailed the move, describing it as positive development that would enable the country to market its unparalleled tourism potential to the world.

Tourism is the third largest growing sector in Zimbabwe after agriculture and mining and is fast emerging as one of the country's significant foreign currency earners.

This is despite the negative publicity that the country continues to get from its traditional source markets, which are the United States, Britain, Germany and other European countries.

Last year, Zimbabwe received 1.27 million tourists and netted in 152.3 million US dollars from the arrivals - Xinhuanet
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