Vietnam travel companies and linguistic experts commented that the new tourism logo of Vietnam is colorful and vague, which is not very connected to Vietnamese tourism.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on December 27, made public the new slogan and symbol of the Vietnam tourism promotion program in 2012-2015: “Vietnam – Timeless Charm” and the five petal lotus.

This symbol and slogan, designed by Tran Hoai Duc, replace the existing lotus bud symbol and the slogan “Vietnam – Hidden Charm.”

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism’s (VNAT) Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, said that lotus is chosen as the symbol because it symbolises the beauty of Vietnamese. The lotus has five petals while in Oriental philosophy, five is a good number, which presents vitality.

The bright green color of the symbol manifests island and sea tourism, Vietnam’s major tourism product. The green color presents ecological tourism and the nature. The yellow color is the symbol of cultural and historical tourism. Violet is for adventure tourism and pink is Vietnamese’s hospitality.

Luu Duc Ke, Director of Hanoi tourist, said that the new logo and slogan do not help tourists imagine the beauty of Vietnamese tourism. “Vietnam – Hidden Charm is upgraded to Vietnam – Timeless Charm but the word ‘charm’ is still repeated and that kind of beauty is general.

Ke said he did not understand the meaning of the logo without explanation. “Our products that use this logo will have to be accompanied with explanation to highlight the logo meaning,” he said.

Tran Van Long, director for the Viet Media and Tourism Company, said that the lotus is very beautiful and traditional but “Timeless Charm” is vague and difficult to understand. International tourists cannot image how Vietnam is when they look at the logo and slogan. Long said that the best tourism slogan so far is “Vietnam – The destination of the new millennium.”

Doan Thanh Tra from Saigontourist said that the meaning of “Timeless Charm” is general but tourists can understand that it will take their time to discover Vietnamese tourism’s diverse beauty. However, the logo is colorful so it is difficult for travel firm to use correct color. Tra added that the logo should be in 2-3 color only.

She said that once the VNAT releases the new logo and slogan, it must have an action program to go with it.

“We are waiting for the VNAT’s action program but the agency has not launched any event that goes with the new logo,” Tra added.

Nguyen Duc Ton, director of the Vietnamese Linguistics Institute, said that the slogan is incorrect under Vietnamese grammar.

In late December 2011, VNAT chief Nguyen Van Tuan said that the tourism sector would have programs to advertise the new logo to domestic and international visitors. But the agency has not implemented any event. As a result, many people, even travel firms, do not know about the change of the tourism logo.