Speaking about the new logo of Vietnam’s tourism, Nguyen Manh Cuong, Vice chief of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said that there are always opposite opinions about the new things. Cuong said that slogans cannot be specific. All slogans are general and people can imagine broadly. It is a trend that slogans of big travel firms are also general, for example “new beauty”, “new experience”, etc.

“It is difficult to understand at first but the new slogan will become familiar gradually. It is normal to have opposite opinions about new things. Even the previous slogan “Hidden charm’ is still criticized until now,” Cuong added.

The official said that the VNAT would issue a document to instruct related agencies on the use of the new logo and slogan. The sample logo will be posted on VNAT’s website.

He added that the tourism sector would implement a systematic marketing strategy to promote the new logo to people and tourists. Programs to promote Vietnam’s tourism abroad, conducted by local travel firms, must use the new logo, otherwise they will be rejected from the VNAT’s programs.

However, funding for tourism promotion is not approved yet so VNAT cannot carry out its plans. According to Cuong, the capital for this year’s tourism promotion program may be over VND20 billion ($1 million), while its plan to approach to foreign markets and to open two overseas offices is estimated to cost around VND60 billion ($3 million).

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, vice chief of the VNAT’s Market Department, explained the meaning of the English slogan “Vietnam – Timeless Charm” as follows. The word “charm” has been used in the previous slogan and it has made impression on people and tourists. Thus, this word is used again in the new slogan.

“Timeless” means everlastingness and diversity because Vietnam has various types of tourism products and services that can satisfy all visitors, and visitors need more time to discover.