Miss Asia Pacific International

History

Miss Asia Pacific International was established in 1965 as the Miss Asia contest. The first titleholder was Angela Filmer from Malaysia. She was crowned by incoming first lady Imelda Marcos on December 4, 1965. The initial edition of the contest included participants from 18 countries.

In 1968, a group of Filipino entrepreneurs led by Leandro « Biboy » Enriquez founded the Miss Asia Quest Inc., a non profit organization whose main objective was to promote peace and goodwill and enhance trade and tourism among the participating nations.  The formal search for Miss Asia began with the selection of the Philippine representative known as Mutya ng Pilipinas and the crowning of Miss Asia in December 1968.

From 1968 to 1983 this pageant was called Miss Asia Quest, open to all nations in Asia and Oceania.  It was held annually in the Philippines, except for 1981 & 1982 in Malaysia.  In 1984, when the pageant was held in New Zealand, the title was changed to Miss Asia Pacific Quest after the inclusion of entries from Central and South America, including the U.S.A. and Canada, whose borders touched the Pacific Ocean.  It was held in Hong Kong in 1985 to 1989 before returning to the Philippines.

The pageant was not held in 1990 due to the Luzon earthquake, in 1991 due to the Mount Pinatubo eruption. The pageant was not held for unknown reasons in 2004.

In 2005, it was renamed Miss Asia Pacific International to allow participants from all countries.  In 2005, Leonora Jimenez Monge from Costa Rica was dethroned after participating in the Miss World contest. The title was then passed to the first runner-up, Yevgeniya Lapova from Russia. The pageant was then suspended after the conclusion of the 2005 edition. It resumed 12 years later in 2016, with Tessa le Conge from the Netherlands winning the title.

Due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, no competitions were held from 2020 to 2023. The last titleholder before the hiatus was Chaiyenne Huisman from Spain, who was crowned on October 9, 2019. The pageant returned in October 2024, with Eva Patalinjug as the new President and Kristine Caballero-Aplal as General Manager.