“I am proud that Sabah has been chosen to host this event,” said Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Christina Liew.

The event will see the participation of 45 countries from around the world.

The MTI is a 17-day event, starting from the arrival of the 45 countries’ Miss Tourism International delegates on November 10.

The MTI World Finals coronation night will be held on November 25 at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC).

Liew said the MTI World Finals will definitely bring tremendous publicity to the State and put Sabah into the Pageantry World News.

She thanked the president and owner of MTI, Tan Sri Datuk Danny Ooi for selecting Sabah as the hosting State for the prestigious World Finals and also congratulated the joint organising chairpersons, Xandria Ban and Genie Chua, and her team for accepting such a great responsibility to organise an event of such magnitude.

“Sabah will definitely be in the limelight when the 45 countries set foot in our beautiful State, The Land below the Wind,” she said at the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the appointment of EventLab Works & Supplies Sdn Bhd as the host organizer of Miss Tourism International 2023 World Finals.

She added that her ministry and Sabah Tourism Board (STB) will render their full support and welcome the Miss Tourism International delegates from the 45 countries with Sabah’s warm and kind hospitality, thus making it a memorable experience for them to enjoy what Sabah has to offer.

Also present at the event were Miss Tourism International 2022 reigning queen, Miss Suphatra Kliangprom from Thailand and Miss Tourism Global 2022, Miss Chrystal Huang from Singapore, as well as local beauty queens, Phoebe Ong (Miss South East Asia Tourism Ambassadress 2022) and Ellen Rachel (Miss Malaysia Tourism Metropolitan 2022).

Meanwhile, during the press conference held after the MoU ceremony, Ooi said Sabah was selected to host the MTI World Finals because it has a lot to offer to the delegates.

“The 45 countries will come and see for themselves. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising,” he said.

He also said that among the activities that the delegates will be doing is the International Friendship Garden where they will each plant a tree.

“The purpose of the event is to promote tourism, culture and friendship. There will be a lot of activities focusing on local culture, the traditional way, and a lot of exposure would be given to Sabah,” he said.

On the travel advisory issued by a certain country against visiting Sabah, the minister said Sabah is safe.

She reminded that the advisory was issued due to kidnapping incidents that occurred two decades ago.

Liew also reiterated her calls for Malaysia Airports Sdn Bhd (MASB) to expedite the upgrading of the facilities at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) following the chaotic situation at the airport on Wednesday when five airlines from South Korea carrying a total of 1,098 passengers landed at the airport at close intervals.

She added that the incident caused congestion at the Immigration counters.

She also said that she will meet with the management of MASB next week to discuss the issues further.