Miss Pacific Islands

The South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) sponsored Josie Nicholas as the representative of the Pacific Region to join the SPTO team for the 2023 Seatrade Cruise Global event that was held at the Broward County Convention Centre in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in March 2023.

Josie expressed her gratitude towards SPTO for supporting her platform and providing her with the opportunity to represent her amazing Pacific in the United States.

She travelled to Kokopo at the invitation of Miss East New Britain organising committee to launch the winner of Miss Frangipani quest, Ellen Morgan, as Miss East New Britain in the Miss PNG pageant 2019.

The trip took in some iconic World War II historical sites which included a visit to the Bitapaka War Cemetery and the Kokopo War Museum today (July 23).

The next day Miss Kariha will visit the Volcano Observatory followed by a visit to the Yamamoto bunker and the Karavia barge tunnels, the Rabaul volcano and hot springs.

She is currently in Auckland, New Zealand, in her role as cultural and tourism ambassador for PNG as well as for the Pacific region.

Miss Kariha is part of PNG’s Tourism Promotion Authority’s (TPA) team and is accompanied by six tour operators to showcase PNG in one of the largest regional cultural expos organised by the South Pacific Tourism Office (SPTO) based in Fiji.

The Auckland show is one of the most important travel events for marketers wishing to reach consumers and travel agents.

This was the response from Miss Pacific Islands Leoshina Mercy Kariha regarding a recent Facebook post that went viral for all the wrong reasons.

It was one of those posts that unexpectedly makes an unfortunate individual Facebook famous.

Following the crowning of Leoshina Mercy Kariha as Miss PNG last month, a fellow Papua New Guinean updated her Facebook status with a discriminatory post, questioning Kariha’s win and likening her to an animal.

Havora is a 25 year old medical student of Papua New Guinea.

“It’s been great, I got to travel and represent not only my country Papua New Guinea in regional and even global conferences,but the Pacific as a whole by being an ambassador for many things from Climate Change resilience to raising awareness on proper health care,” she said.

At the end of the week, Havora will crown the new face and ambassador for Pacific island countries.

Havora believes being crowned Miss Pacific Islands isn’t about having a beautiful face or charismatic behavior.

Havora presented the donation on behalf of Pacific Balanced Fund / Melanesian Trustee Services Ltd towards the cyclone victims.

She also presented a donation of K2,000 from the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant PNG to the Fiji Cyclone Appeal.

"We witnessed from afar the devastating effects that the cyclone left behind and we had nothing much to offer but our solidarity and prayers for our Melanesian brothers and sisters out there.

Miss Havora is running third on 4194 votes since 8am today behind Miss Tonga Brittne Mahealani Tupouvakatapule Fuimaono on 4539 votes.

Leading the tally is Miss American Samoa Suluga Talofaali’i Taliau on 4686 votes.

Currently in fourth place is Miss Samoa Ariana Phillipa Taufao on 3429 votes followed by Miss Solomon Islands Deanne Ngina Enoch on 2599, Miss Fiji Zaira Begg on 2430 and trailing is Miss Cook Islands Felicia George on 2268 votes.

Voting is done via Miss Pacific Islands Facebook page and the public throughout the Pacific Islands is encouraged to vote.