Telangana turns Miss World event into marketing spiel

Miss World 2025 Contestants During A Visit to A Pochampally Saree Weaving Factory At Bohoodan Pochampally. | Photo Credit: –

Miss World 2025 contestants visited the Yadagirigutta Temple in Yadadri Bhongir district as part of their cultural tour.

Telangana has managed to turn the spotlight on its 1000-year-old heritage using the strobe lights of the Miss World beauty pageant. Instead of a single memorable event on a stage, or a leading question to ‘World Peace’, the 108 contestants have been taken around the different historical landmarks in the state. In the process, the contestants got to sample the culture, cuisine, and conviviality of the state. The Telangana Tourism got memorable photographs that it has splashed across the State and city.

While it is still early to understand the impact, the State government has left no stone unturned in the effort. The Miss World contestants were taken to a private hospital to showcase medical tourism. They were taken to a sit-down dinner at a Nizam-era palace. They were taken to the weaving village of Pochampally. They were even shown around the Integrated Control And Command Centre which showcases the surveillance capabilities of the State.

“The real work begins now. We are working on the campaign narrative: “Telangana Too Beautiful to Miss”, which is a play on the Miss World Contest. India has been on the bucket list for visitors across the world but that has always meant some palaces in Rajasthan and Taj Mahal with Delhi as the stopover. We want to break that mindset,” says Jayesh Ranjan, Special Chief Secretary Telangana, who played a behind-the-scenes role for the Miss World contest in Telangana. In an age of stagnant manufacturing sector, protectionist tariffs, the focus of Telangana on the service sector of tourism appears to be spot on.

“The Miss World contestants were taken to the sites of handicrafts production along with historic places in that region. Warangal, Laad Bazaar, and Pochampally have the Geographical Indications (GI) factor in common, GI can help in boosting tourism and also bring in a lot of rural entrepreneurship. New tourist circuits can be created to give a detour on how these crafts and products are made and also information on its tradition and culture linking places, products and people,” says Subhajit Saha, Founder, Resolute4IP, and GI practitioner.

Buttressing Hyderabad and Telangana about its charms, on Saturday, well-known journalist Rajdeep Sardesai posted on X: “Every time I visit Hyderabad, I come away with a distinct impression of it being India’s truly future ready big metropolis that combines old world charm with new age energies… If I had any choice as to which city should be showcased as India’s Olympic host in 2036, Hyderabad would be right on top.”