By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Miss Universe Brook Mahealani Lee on her first trip home
since she won the Miss Universe. Miss Universe producers
are scouting Hawaii as a possible location for the pageant.

---

Miss Universe
producer checks
Honolulu’s potential

The pageant's host city could win
$4 million in national exposure

By Jim Witty
Star-Bulletin

Honolulu as host of the 1998 Miss Universe Pageant has chicken skin written all over it. Hail the conquering heroine.

"From an emotional level, everybody would like us to host it, especially with Brook Lee having won," said Sandra Butler-

Moreno, vice president of meetings, conventions and incentives for the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau.

But Butler-Moreno said state tourism officials aren't going to let emotion get in the way of a calculated assessment when they meet with Kieran McCarthy, vice president for production at Miss Universe Inc. this afternoon at the Governor's Office. McCarthy spent most of the weekend at events with this year's Miss Universe, Brook Lee of Pearl City, but plans to

use this week to examine the convention center site and evaluate Honolulu as a potential host city.

"It would really have to be a win-win situation for the Miss Universe Pageant and the state of Hawaii," said Butler-Moreno. "They ask a lot from the host communities. It has to make sense for the state. We're at the starting phase. This is their initial exploratory trip."

Butler-Moreno said the potential economic benefits of hosting the international pageant are difficult to estimate, but added that Miami beach hoteliers were pleased with the television exposure they got during this year's pageant.

She estimated the advertising exposure to be worth about $4 million in the U.S. market.

Hawaii would be featured in more than 60 nations worldwide with at least six minutes of the telecast devoted to promoting the state as a visitor destination and another three minutes spotlighting the finalists having "fun in the sun" at various neighbor island locations. Hundreds of millions of viewers are exposed to the host city, pageant organizers say.

In return, the host community is expected to provide chaperones, accommodations for contestants, air fare for their families, ground transportation and food and beverages among other things. A "destination fee" is also part of the package.

"This is a major event," she said. "These require an unusual amount of time and community commitment."

A preliminary host committee comprising local business people is being formed "to explore how much interest there is in terms of sponsorship," Butler-Moreno said.

Meanwhile, the Hawaii Convention Center is scheduled to be completed by May of next year, just in time for the Miss Universe Pageant. Boosters of the idea see the pageant as an ideal launching pad for the new facility.

The Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants are owned by Donald Trump and CBS. Lee, a former Miss USA, was crowned last month.