KUALA LUMPUR: Cyrille Payumo of the Philippines was crowned Miss Tourism International 2019/2020, beating 39 other contestants at the pageant finals held here, on Friday night.
Charming her way into the judges’ hearts, the 22-year-old will now be realising her dream of pursuing her studies in Mass Communications, as the pageant crown comes with a prize of a scholarship for a course of her choice at any LimKokWing University of Creative Technology, worldwide.
The four-year tertiary study sponsorship for Miss Tourism International 2019/2020 winners and runners-ups was formalised through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) inked between the university and Miss Tourism International at the university’s main campus on Nov 1.
Overjoyed Payumo later said: “It is a good stepping stone for me to win, as I would love to pursue my higher studies in Mass Communications and to be able to interact and to touch people’s hearts by being a tourism advocate not only to my country, but to the world.”
She added that she is a language enthusiast, and singled out Malaysia as the best place to learn new languages such as Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil.
This year’s competition – the 22nd edition of the pageant – was themed “Embracing Visit Truly Asia Malaysia 2020” aimed at promoting Visit Malaysia Year 2020.
The pageant was first held in Sarawak in 1994.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Malaysian contestant, Cheryl Loo Wen Nee, managed to make it into the top 10. She won three out of 16 subsidiary titles – Miss Gintell Wellness, Miss Glamorous Carlo Rino and Miss Glorious Beautiful. – BERNAMA