AYALA CENTER, Makati City — Miss Tourism International 2024 Liana Barrido of the Philippines is set to relinquish her crown when the beauty pageant is held this year for the first time in the Philippines in Davao City on November 29.

The Mutya ng Pilipinas organization announced in a press conference that the pageant will be hosted by the Philippines, even as the international pageant’s president, Tan Sri Datuk Danny Ooi, flew to Manila from Kuala Lumpur to attend its launching.

Last year, the country’s national pageant officials went to see the staging of the 2024 finals and asked if Ooi would want to bring it to Manila.

"There are quite a number of countries, like Nigeria, but I did not select the place. The Philippines is okay, it’s very close, only three and a half hours (away),” the pageant president replied.

“The Philippines has many places to offer. So the world final will probably be held in Davao. But we’ll still have activities in Manila,” he added.

This is the first time that the Miss Tourism International pageant will be held outside Malaysia. Two virtual editions were held during the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020 and 2021.

"I thought it’s a good time to help the country, Philippines, in terms of tourism. Because ours is Miss Tourism International, so probably it’s a good opportunity for Philippines to have 45 to 50 countries by November,” Ooi noted.

Barrido is the sixth Filipino woman to win the title, following Peachy Manzano in 2000, the late Rizzini Alexis Gomez (2012), Angeli Dione Gomez (2013), Jannie Alipo-on (2017) and reigning Miss Philippines-Charm Cyrille Payumo (2019).

This will be the second global competition affiliated with the Mutya ng Pilipinas organization to hold its 2025 contest in the Philippines.

In November last year, the national organization announced that the third Miss Environment International pageant will take place in Manila in June.

Another Mutya ng Pilipinas queen is the reigning Miss Environment International titleholder, Shannon Robinson. Canada-based Filipino beauty Arianna Pantaleon will try to succeed her in the 2025 global tilt.