Miss Global reaches out
Organiser of the Miss Global International pageant, Neelam Ramchandani, believes this year’s competition will help boost Jamaica’s tourism product.
“This year our motto is ‘Uniting the World Through Beauty and Tourism’, and so we’ll be hosting other countries for the international coronation show in September. We will provide the girls with a feel of the resorts, among other things, which of course will be good for the tourism sector,” she told the Jamaica Observer.
“We are a non-profit organisation and we are the only beauty pageant that has its international component take place right here in Jamaica,” Ramchandani continued.
The pageant returns after a one-year hiatus. The local leg, Miss Global Jamaica, is scheduled for the Courtleigh Auditorium in Kingston on June 29, while Miss Global International is slated for Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St James, on September 28.
The reigning queens are Nastashia Mitchell, and Cynthia Dookie of Guyana, respectively.
Ramchandani said the 20 contestants for the Jamaica leg have already ticked off several dates.
“The girls have attended courtesy calls to the Governor General and to the Ministry of Tourism, and on the itinerary they have a couple visits more to do. They went to the zoo; we had a beach party to raise funds for the Jamaican Association For The Deaf because they’re the charity that we’re partnering with as well and so far we have raised enough funds to cater to what our goal was. We’re still working towards raising more, we hope that from ticket sales on the final night we’ll be able to do something very generous,” she said.
The event, which started as Miss Commonwealth in 2004, has fielded participants from Kuwait, Iran, Japan, Nigeria, Australia and Myanmar. The ages of contestants range from 17 to 27.
“The pageant was my Dad’s (Lachu Ramchandani) idea. He wanted to facilitate all the countries that were not a part of the Commonwealth because people from those countries were complaining, and so he decided to introduce something new that everybody could be a part of,” Ramchandani disclosed.
