Posted on 09/03/2006 1:22:20 PM PDT by Grzegorz 246
Warsaw, Sep 2 : Pageant contestants from around the globe gathered here for the Miss World 2006 contest, organisers said Saturday.
The beauty queens arrived in the Polish capital Friday for a month of pageantry across the country ahead of the final of the Miss World 2006 pageant contest scheduled for Sep 30.
The highlights of the month-long tour will be the final, which will be staged at the Congress Hall of the Science and Culture Palace here.
When Eric Morley founded Miss World in 1951, he might not have imagined that the pageant would one day attract a global audience of more than two billion.
The audience rating for the Miss World final is now the third highest, next only to Olympic Games and the World Cup football matches.
On Sep 30, nearly 200 TV stations around the world will give live broadcasts of the pageant final. Polish authorities hope the event would help boost the county's tourism image overseas.
A total of 30 million zlotys ($9.68 million) will be spent on preparations for the final, but the profits from the contest are expected to be much higher.
TVP, the Polish TV station, which was awarded the right to broadcast the final live, will be among the main beneficiaries, with its advertising income alone expected to reach 15 million zlotys ($4.84 million).
The audience will vote through the audio communication system or short message service and the telecommunication operators are expected to harvest about 32 million zlotys (10.32 million U.S. dollars).
Meanwhile, hoteliers, restaurateurs and operators of public transport also hope to earn an additional 44 million zlotys ($14.19 million), the Market Economy Institute of Poland estimated.
The contestants will travel around the cities and the famous lakes and landmarks in Poland through September and activities of various kinds are scheduled along their itinerary, including the mini-finals for Miss World.
"Many foreigners don't even know the existence of a country called Poland. They often confuse Poland with Holland or Finland," the vice-chairman of the Poland tourism organisation, Stanislaw Wojtera, told reporters.
"What we are striving for is, when the billions of people around the world watch the Miss World final or read reports about the preparations for it, they will at least see a European map with an arrow pointed to the location of Poland," he said.
Miss Iceland Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir, who was crowned Miss World last December in the Chinese city of Sanya, said: "Few people know the charm of Poland. I am in love with her."
or Mr. Moderator wife :)
Agreed. Miss Lebanon is world-class.
Rowr!
Miss Panama is one hot lady too.
Let's see more.
I see. Perhaps there is another more legal source?
Man, don't do that before dinner. Dang it.
Thanks for posting Miss Hesbo, 1905.
Please don't do this.
Dude. No posting pictures of Miss DNC, mkay?!
...and she's only 19!
Hey - she is also a republican!!
LOL
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