Rolandis seeks £2 million for Miss Universe

MINISTER of Commerce, Tourism and Industry Nicos Rolandis yesterday requested that the House approve £2 million as an emergency measure to fund the millennium Miss Universe pageant in Cyprus.

Rolandis told the House Finance Committee that the money would be taken from the Cyprus Tourism Organisation budget. He underlined that the Miss Universe contest was the third largest event worldwide after the Olympics and the World Cup, and would significantly boost the number of tourists arriving on the island, especially from the United States. The costs, he added, would be offset by the sale of the television rights to the pageant, valued at between $3 and $5 million.

The contest looks set to take place at Nicosia’s Eleftheria Stadium next summer. The organisers CBS and the Donald Trump Corporation have long favoured Cyprus as the host country for the millennial contest as it is the birthplace of Aphrodite, goddess of beauty. Rolandis has said that the contest will count as one of Cyprus’ main millennium-marking events.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.