Debate rages over tourism tag

Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has put forward ‘Welcome to Vietnam’ as the new tagline to promote the country’s tourism, replacing the outdated ‘Vietnam: A Destination for the New Millennium’ introduced in 1999.
While tourism officials remain silent about the reasons behind the decision to choose the new slogan, they are using it on a trial basis, putting it on banners for the inauguration of Dien Bien Phu Tourism Year and the ceremony to receive the World Heritage certificate for Phong Nha-Ke Bang Grotto.
However, foreign tour operators and hoteliers say the new tagline is “simple” and “not strong enough” to attract international tourists and it does not promote the common image of the country’s tourism.
“Of course Vietnam should have a nice slogan to attract customers confidence but ‘Welcome to Vietnam’ does not seem very pushy,” said Denis Colonna, director of Exotissimo Travel.
“I would prefer something more dynamic like ‘Visit Vietnam’ or ‘Authentic Vietnam’,” he said.
Paul Stoll, general manager of Furama Resort Danang, agreed that the slogan ‘Vietnam: A Destination for the New Millennium’ had to be replaced, but he proposed ‘Fantastic Vietnam’, saying it was more appropriate.
“From this slogan, regional tourism promotions can also be developed such as ‘Fantastic Nghe An’ and ‘Fantastic Danang’, accompanied by cultural programmes, sporting events and entertainment,” said Stoll.
Mohd Ilyas, general secretary of the ASEAN Tourism Association, said industry insiders should sit down together to work out suitable tag lines for tourism promotion, then ask foreign tourists how they felt about the tag lines.
“A tagline for the country is not easy to find,” said Ilyas, who is also president of the Malaysian Association of Hotels.
Ilyas said that Malaysia had consulted with tourism experts and foreign tourists before it introduced the ‘Malaysia: Truly Asia’ slogan which was considered the strongest in the region.
He said ‘Malaysia: Truly Asia’ might not have a strong impact on other Southeast Asian countries but it was very eye-catching to tourists from North America, Europe, Australia and even the Middle East.
“We wanted to have a position that when you visit one destination, Malaysia, you can see many things from the whole of Asia here. Malaysia is a melting pot in Asia with Chinese, Indian and Malay culture and food,” Ilyas said.
Malaysia and Vietnam are not the only countries trying to put forward eye-catching slogans.
Other countries have introduced tag lines such as ‘Uniquely Singapore’, ‘Amazing Thailand’ and ‘Incredible India’.
Even if a new slogan is introduced, lack of experience and finance have been major obstacles for the country’s tourism promotion campaigns in the last few years.
Vietnam started overseas promotion campaigns in 1999 when it launched ‘Vietnam: A Destination for the New Millennium’.
However, Colonna said, the slogan was out of date as the next new millennium would not come for almost 1,000 years. Tourism authorities have also recognised the need for change but have been slow to introduce a new slogan.
Both Colonna and Stoll have been pushing for a foreign communication company to be contracted to give Vietnam international exposure and coordinate promotional efforts.
“To attract international exposure, Vietnam tourism authorities should rely on an international communication company to design a complete promotion campaign and, of course, Vietnam should spend at least $10 to $20 million on this campaign,” Colonna said.
Vietnam spends around $1 million annually on tourism promotion compared to the tens of millions of dollars spent by regional countries such as Thailand and Singapore. The number of international tourists to Vietnam last year was 2.2 million compared to 10.5 million in Malaysia.
Stoll said maintaining close contact with international and local media was the key to effective promotion, leading to increasing numbers of visitors.
“Attending important international trade shows is vital and the opening of tourism offices in Vietnam’s main feeder markets is also important,” Stoll said. Vietnam has so far not set up any national tourism promotion offices overseas while other countries in the region have had offices open for years.
Industry insiders also said a lack of experience had limited Vietnam’s promotional effectiveness in international tourism fairs.
Stoll asked the authorities to organise media and trade familiarisation trips to introduce Vietnam to a wider audience in the world and to make use of its history, culture and natural beauty to attract film producers to make more international movies and documentaries here.
“I would suggest that all of the above should be co-ordinated by a professional public relations agency to be successful,” he said.
Mohd Ilyas said Vietnam’s tourism promotion needed more involvement from the private sector.
“We see the government bodies everywhere but we do not see many in private sector actively promoting the country.”