Update: The Grand Finale of the Miss Puerto Vallarta segment of this contest will take place on Saturday, July 23, at 8 pm in Teatro Vallarta. Tickets are $200 pesos in advance or $250 pesos at the door.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - August is always one of the warmest months of the year in Puerto Vallarta, but it will be even hotter this year as candidates vie for the title of Miss Mexico.

Puerto Vallarta has been chosen to host the semi-finals and final competitions of the Miss Mexico beauty pageant, which will take place August 18-20, as announced in a press conference by Jalisco State Governor Emilio Gonzalez, Nuestra Belleza Mexico director, Lupita Jones, and 2010 Nuestra Belleza Mexico titleholder, Karin Ontiveros.

The press conference revealed that the annual beauty pageant will take place this year in three stages. The first event will be in Mexico City on July 22, which will consist of the initial competitions and eliminations, beginning with 34 contestants.

Finalists of the Mexico City event will travel to Puerto Vallarta for the second phase, which will feature the Mexican beauties on the runway in swimsuit, formal gown and costume competitions, taking place on August 18.

The final stage of the competition will take place on August 20, again in Puerto Vallarta, where the remaining 15 contestants will compete again in the runway swimsuit, formal gown and speech competitions. One of them will be crowned "Miss Mexico" and will go on to compete in the 2012 Miss Universe pageant.

For the last three years, the Nuestra Belleza Mexico finalists that have gone on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant have been from the state of Jalisco, where Puerto Vallarta is located.

The current Miss Universe, Ximena Navarrete, is from the state of Jalisco. Navarrete has been modeling since she was 15 and came to Miss Universe after winning for Jalisco, then Mexico, in the country's 2009 Nuestra Belleza pageant, which was held in Mérida, Yucatán.

This year's event will be the eighteenth edition of the Miss Mexico pageant where the current title holders will crown the successors.

One of the primary reasons that the decision was made to hold the contest in Jalisco was because the winners from the last three years have been representatives of the state of Jalisco, including the current Miss Universe, Ximena Navarrete.

Miss Universe 2011, the 60th anniversary of the Miss Universe pageant, will be held at the Credicard Hall, São Paulo, Brazil on September 12, 2011. Ximena Navarrete of Mexico will crown her successor at the end of the event.

Ontiveros is expected to take part in the international Miss Universe 2011 contest, in hopes of becoming the third Miss Universe from Mexico, and the second consecutively.