The International Tourism Beauty Pageants Competition, originally set up in Malaysia, will settle in China this year.

Li Zhe, director of the competition’s organizing committee in China, said the international organization had already given their seal of approval and the event would be held every year in China from 2006 to 2010.

The International Tourism Beauty Pageants Competition is different from usual beauty pageants competition in that it serves as an international tourist cultural activity. It aims to promote cultural exchanges, boost the development and prosperity of international tourism industry, and help achieve harmony and progress in society in the form of competition. The competition started in 1993 and has been held ten times so far.

This year is the first time for the competition to be held outside Malaysia. The founder of the event, Huang Hanrong said he saw China as a tourist market with great potential of development and he hoped that the competition could, by its fame, provide a greater opportunity for cultural exchanges and cooperation between countries.

It is expected that candidates from 40 countries and regions will participate in the 2006 competition, which will be held in Zhangjiajie in September.

(Source: ChinaNews.cn)