Weather, tourism spots lure Finland beauties to Sabah

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The Finland beauties taking a picture of rambutans outside the Sabah Tourism Board building.

KOTA KINABALU: The sunny Sabah weather and beautiful tourism spots of breathtaking beaches in Sabah was what inspired the organizers of Miss Bikini Finland to bring their 10 finalists for an incentive tour here.

Miss Bikini Limited CEO, Annika Hiltunen, said the finalists would be in Sabah from Dec 1 to 10 and would visit the main tourism attraction spots in Sabah besides doing some photo shoots at several identified locations.

When asked why they chose Sabah, Annika explained that one of the sponsors for the pageant had visited Sabah a year ago and was enamoured with the beautiful island, beaches, sunny weather and tourism attractions.

“It was decided then that the finalists will be taken on an incentive tour to Sabah and we hope they will have a memorable experience through this visit here,” she said.

The Finland beauties in a group picture after a briefing session at Sabah Tourism Board.

Annika said the group will be visiting all the popular tourist destinations in and around Kota Kinabalu as recommended by the Sabah Tourism Board.

Their trip will be made into a reality show to be aired on Finland TV Channel early next year, she said, adding that Sabah Tourism Board is also undertaking a TV production for the reality show.

Yesterday morning, Annika and the group attended a briefing with Sabah Tourism Board and later, escorted by Waterfront Urban Development Group (WUD) executive director Johnson Koh, they walked around the Gaya Street Sunday market.

The Finland beauties at the Gaya Street Sunday Fair.

WUD is the main sponsor of the Miss Bikini Finland Grand Final 2012 tour in Kota Kinabalu.

Annika said that some of the contestants said that even though they had just arrived in Sabah, they were already enjoying themselves here.

“They even had the opportunity to taste the ‘rambutan’ at the Gaya Street market today,” she said.

According to Annika, among the prizes the winner of the pageant will receive is a one-year contract with a modeling agency in Finland.