Miss World 2007 Zhang Zi Lin from China at Wednesday’s press conference.

Vietnam has a lot of work to do over the next two years to prepare for its first-ever Miss World pageant, the event organizer told a press briefing in Ho Chi Minh City Wednesday.

RAAS Chairman Hoang Kieu Wednesday unveiled the master plan for the venue of the 2010 event, the state-of the-art RAAS Island 1,000 Stars Underwater Resort and Spa at Dam Bay (Bay Lagoon) on Hon Tre Island off Nha Trang.

The island will include a complex called Miss World Village with 202 houses, each representing a country, divided into six continents surrounding an S-shaped Vietnam, as well as a luxurious shopping malls and recreational areas.

If everything goes as smoothly as the patriotic businessman desires, the project will help Vietnam become a must-see wonderland for tourists and investors alike.

A series of firsts

For the first time ever, audiences at a Miss World pageant will not have to buy tickets.

“No tickets will be sold to any event organized by RAAS,” Kieu told the press conference at the Sheraton Saigon Hotel. “Tickets will be distributed to sponsors who will use them for promotional activities.”

Sponsors of the pageant will assist RAAS with charity projects, including providing 1,700 houses to disadvantaged people in 45 provinces and building bridges and schools.

RAAS plans to include unprecedented environmentally friendly activities in the upcoming Miss World contest. In one planned event, contestants will set free one million ocean creatures. A 300-hectare “green” beachfront reservation will also be set aside on RAAS Island.

Kieu said Miss World Organization had also authorized RAAS to organize a new pageant, Miss World Vietnam. The first Miss World Vietnam contest will be held in Nha Trang in 2009.

The businessman said he had asked the government to allow Miss World 2010 contestants from some 130 countries to join a parade to celebrate the 1,000th years of Thang Long citadel-Hanoi.

The main activities of the beauty contest, expected to be held over one month beginning in September 2010, will be held in Nha Trang, Hanoi, HCMC and Tien Giang Province.

Reported by Luu Hong