Pageants to Lure Tourists to Tibet
Dharamsala, 4 August: Pageants promote causes. AIDS awareness, poverty alleviation, peace, literacy and so on and so forth. The beauty pageant in the exile community two years back received a wide coverage in the media, both in domestic and international arenas. It was effective in creating Tibet awareness according to the organisers of what was claimed to have been the first pageant ever. The organisers of the event that won support from the younger lot of the Tibetan community as well as faced condemnation from the older generation seemed unaware of pageants held in Tibet much earlier.
Back in Tibet, which now is being claimed by touring Chinese leaders to have secured economic and social prosperity, pageants are a tool for economic boost. Recently, government of Tibet Autonomous’ Region has launched a pageant on 1 August to select Tibetan beauties to work as “image ambassadors” for promotion of tourism in the region, US based indadaily.com reported. The pageant will last for two months. Tibetan women aged between 18 and 30 and at least 1.65 metres tall are qualified to compete in the event, Xia Huiqiong, in charge of the pageant was quoted as saying
The contests will be simultaneously held in the various places in the region. The contestants will have to pass through three rounds of competitions after which a regional winner each will be chosen. The ten finalists will receive special prizes and will move on to promote tourism at the prefectural level.
Latest statistics show that 505,000 tourists visited Tibet this year, almost four times more than the same period last year. Of the total, overseas tourist arrivals made up 37,000 till June only, the report said.