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Hangzhou, China – When Alexandra Deal, 19, entered the Luyu Resort in Hangzhou, China, as the Miss Bahamas representative in the 2007 Miss Tourism Queen International Beauty Pageant, she received the biggest applause of all the 150 contestants in the competition.
In fact, instead of giving her one welcome necklace like all the other girls, Deal, her eyes wide and a big smile on her face, accepted the two necklaces given to her as a symbol of the welcoming committee's appreciation of her presence at the event. And this was just the beginning. Later on that night, as the blond-haired, green eyed girl strutted down the catwalk in a stunning gold evening gown during a brief fashion show for the locals, she also created a ripple of awareness in the crowd. A good sign for a girl who already claimed the crown as her own.
"I feel that I have a strong chance of winning," Deal said. "If I don't win, I'll definitely make it in the top 20."
And that is no easy feat in a competition where nearly 150 girls have flown from all over the world to take the crown back to their homeland.
For Deal, the road to victory will be a long and challenging one as there are many others who, like her, are giving it their best for a once and a lifetime chance to be launched in the international spotlight as the Tourism Queen.
"I believe there is a lot of competition, all the girls are very gorgeous, there are three definite competitors I'm looking out for: Brazil, Puerto Rico and Curacao," Deal admitted. "But you can never tell, this is just the first week, hopefully by next week I should be able to see which ones are more serious than the others."
The first official round of judging begins this week for the girls, most of whom have been in China for about a week now, visiting different places and tourist landmarks in the country.
But there will be no more time for the girls to settle in as this week can determine who eventually makes it into the top 20 list of contestants.
"If I make it, this would put The Bahamas on the map, a lot of people know about The Bahamas, but there are also a lot of people who don't know where I'm from," Deal said. "Winning this [pageant] would probably bring even more tourists to our country and as tourism is our main industry we would need that [because] that would help our income."
According to Sean Chia, one of the organizers of the contest, promoting tourism in the different countries is the overall objective of the pageant. If selected, the winner will act as an ambassador to the host country as well as an ambassador to her own country. She is also expected to win a cash prize which has yet to be determined, a sponsored gift and a contract with a modeling agency, he said. Source/ Nassau Guardian
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