A record that doesn’t need a crown.
On the evening of September 5, Johiri Mola Dominguez from the Dominican Republic was crowned as the 73rd Miss Universe at Plaza 2/4 in Nha Trang. The competition ended after almost a month, in which 111 contestants from different countries and regions took part. Li Nguyen Bao Ngoc achieved a new achievement for Vietnam by making it to the list of top six contestants in this competition.
Before Bao Ngoc, the highest achievement of a Vietnamese actress was being among the top 11 contestants in Lan Khoi. Therefore, placing in the top six is not only an encouraging ranking, but also reflects progress in training, foreign language skills, presentation skills and the ability to adapt to the increasingly inclusive standards of international beauty pageants.
During the competition, Bao Ngoc won the title of Best Model of the Asia and Oceania region, securing her a direct spot in the top 40 contestants. She also made it to the Top 20 Contestant List in the Direct Confrontation Challenge, Top 23 Contestant List in the Talent Category, and Top 24 Contestant List in the Targeted Beauty Category.
He and his teammates also won the cooking competition. By making it to the top six, Bao Ngoc became the first Vietnamese actress to reach this advanced stage in the Miss World competition.
Not winning the title brings some regrets, especially since Bao Ngoc was highly praised by many international beauty websites. But if we limit ourselves to looking at the contest only from the perspective of the winner, the audience can overlook the significance of the race, in which the Vietnamese actor maintains a largely consistent performance across multiple criteria.
So a top-six finish should not be celebrated as an absolute victory, nor should it be reduced to mere consolation. This is a good result to be commended and also paves the way for a more professional approach to how Vietnam selects its players, trains them and builds its image as a national representative in international competitions.
111 contestants, millions of media opportunities.
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The great significance of Miss World 2026 is that the pageant will be held in Vietnam for the first time. For almost a month, 111 contestants not only took to the stage, but also explored the landscapes, cuisines, arts and lifestyles of different regions. Each contestant also represented a media channel that had its own audience in its country.
Unlike traditional advertising campaigns, content written by the contestants themselves is often more authentic and accessible to the audience. When a traditional Vietnamese costume, a delicious dish, a popular song or a scene from a Vietnamese beach is featured at the expense of a beauty queen, it reaches an audience that is difficult to reach for traditional tourism advertising.
The final evening continued at the Vietnamese Cultural Center with Cham dance performances, Ao Dai (traditional Vietnamese clothing) displays and famous landscapes and architectural landmarks on big screens.
The central square of Nha Trang has become the center of festivals, attracting spectators and tourists. Hosting the event is seen as an opportunity to promote Vietnam’s nature, culture and people.
But culture cannot be limited to the beautiful backdrops of TV shows. The real advertising value comes only when the heritage, people and destination are explained in enough depth for an international audience to understand, remember and want to experience it for themselves.
A Cham dance performance may leave an impression within minutes, but what drives an audience beyond mere curiosity to decide to visit Nha Trang, Ninh Thuan or other Cham cultural sites? A fashion show that highlights the traditional Vietnamese costume (ao dai) may be beautiful on stage, but what further content will help international audiences better understand the history, aesthetics and life of this Vietnamese costume?
This is the gap between showcasing culture and turning it into a national attraction. The Miss World pageant has opened a wide door, but how to go through this door still depends on the opportunities of Vietnam’s tourism, media and culture fields.
Don’t let the effect end with fireworks.
An international event should not be judged only on the stage, the size of the audience or the level of enthusiasm on the closing night, but more important criteria should be taken into account, such as media coverage, the amount of content produced, the number of markets reached, the increase in destination searches and the possibility of converting interest into tourism.
Post-Miss World Vietnam has a huge archive of information about its people, landscape and culture, collected from the perspectives of 111 contestants. If this content is curated, edited in multiple languages and distributed more widely in relevant markets, its media life can be extended for months, or even years.
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Khanh Hoa also needs to turn theatrical effects into tangible products: experiential cruises featured in the competition, tours that connect the sea with Cham culture, restaurants, arts and healthcare. When tourists can directly immerse themselves in the story they see on screen, the promotion will create real economic value.
A transparent summary of the effectiveness of the event in the field of media and tourism is also needed. How much content is published about Vietnam? What is the total international reach? In which markets has there been a marked increase in interest? How has the number of visitors, length of stay and spending at the destination changed?
Without these data, success is easily measured by emotion. And the emotion, no matter how wonderful, fades away as quickly as fireworks after the last night.
Miss Dominican Republic became the champion, but Vietnam will not leave the competition empty-handed. One of its actors achieved a record by reaching the list of the top six contestants, and one of its tourist destinations received international media coverage and thousands of media articles were published about Vietnam.
From now on, the important question is no longer how many steps Bao Ngoc needs to reach the top, but what Vietnam will do to ensure that the beautiful photos taken over the past month do not disappear after the competition is over.
Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/giai-tri/viet-nam-thang-gi-sau-mot-thang-miss-world-262732.html
