BAGUIO CITY—Final preparations get under way for the One-day Miss Universe spectacle in this city as local organizers here aim to assert Baguio as the country’s undisputed Summer Capital and put the Pines City back into the world tourism map.
Andrew Pinero, media officer of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio, said that on Jan. 18, Miss Universe pageant contestants together with reigning Miss Universe beauty titlist Pia Wurtzbach will be arriving in the city and will immediately participate in a 3-kilometer parade from the rotunda of the Department of the Interior and Local Government along Upper Session road up to the Baguio Country Club premises.
Wurtzbach and the 32 Miss Universe beauty contestants will board four beautifully decorated floats with street-dancing contingents from Tabuk City, Kalinga, La Union and some schools in the city will during the festivity-filled day.
The city’s business and other sectoral groups led by HRAB have pooled their resources to ensure the successful holding of the event.
HRAB sponsored the multi-million peso (hosting fee) for the one-day visit of the select beauty contestants to the city, including the cost of the floats for the parade proper.
Local organizers will be taking the tab for the accommodation costs, chartered flights for the contestants, taxes, etc. and the performer’s fees during the parade, among others.
“Baguio City will definitely gain from this as the pre-pageant events and the main pageant itself will be aired in 160 countries in the different parts of the globe,” Pinero added.
While in the city, the beauty contestants will join a mini-golf tournament at the Baguio Country Club golf course.
The pageant contestants will be entertained with performances of the Tam-awan artists that will showcase Cordillera region’s rich culture and traditions, particularly the Igorots attire and lifestyles.
Pinero said security preparations for the visit of the Miss Universe contestants to the city have been finalized to make sure that their stint in the city will be safe and worth remembering not only for the residents but for the visiting contestants as well.