«It is an honor for me to announce that El Salvador will be the official host of the next Miss Universe event to be held at the end of this year,» said the president during the announcement that was issued minutes before the new Miss Universe was crowned. The development in terms of security and tourism has made El Salvador once again the venue for the Miss Universe gala after 48 years.
The 72nd Miss Universe gala, to be held at the end of 2023, will be the second time that the country will host the most prestigious beauty pageant in the world. The first was held on July 19, 1975, at the «José Adolfo Pineda» National Gymnasium in San Salvador.
That time, El Salvador witnessed the beauty of the candidates from 71 countries who competed for the Miss Universe crown, where the Finnish Anne Marie Pohtamo was proclaimed the most beautiful woman in the world.
The 1975 edition included the participation of Carmen Elena Figueroa Rodríguez, who represented El Salvador and qualified among the first twelve candidates, thus becoming the first Salvadoran since Maribel Arrieta (1955) to win a spot in the semifinals of the contest.
That night, the Guatemalan Emy Elivia Abascal was awarded the Best National Costume; for her part, the Colombian Marta Lucía Echeverry Trujillo, and the American Summer Robin Bartholomew took the prize for Miss Photogenic. The representative of Trinidad and Tobago, Christine Mary Jackson, won the title of Miss Congeniality.
After 48 years, El Salvador will once again host the gala of the most important beauty pageant in the world, motivated by the development that the country has shown during the last three and a half years with the improvements in security and the exhibition in field tourism that has managed to position it as one of the most striking destinations for the international community.