Nguyen Van Tuan, Director General of VNAT, said that the VNAT would ask its experts to quickly launch new criteria for selecting the new logo and slogan late this year to replace the current logo and slogan that reads ‘Vietnam – the Hidden Charm.’ “We need the new image late this year to prepare for marketing activities in the new stage of development in the 2011-15 period,” he said. In late 2005, Vietnam’s tourism authorities chose “Vietnam - the Hidden Charm” as the new slogan and a new logo for the national tourism industry’s action plan in the 2006-2010 period. Tuan said the past decade has seen a strong foundation built up for the development of the country’s tourism in the next stage. During the time, the tourism sector has made efforts to develop infrastructure, human resources and the brand name. Now the new stage calls for a new image, he said. “Vietnam is becoming a popular destination to international travelers. We see the next stage as a period of stronger development so the new slogan must convey such contents,” he said. Tuan said the national tourism agency would also encourage logo and slogan designers to suggest next activities to promote the country’s tourism. Regarding marketing activities for the tourism sector, the General Director of Saigontourist Holding Company Nguyen Huu Tho in a recent tourism meeting in HCMC suggested that VNAT call on high-ranking officials to join forces in the marketing campaign. “Many countries are doing like that. The marketing campaign will be made more effective if top officials of the country take a proactive role in promoting the tourism image in foreign countries,” said Tho. Tho said along with activities to promote the country’s tourism via foreign travel fairs and events, the tourism agency needs to organize more direct marketing activities to foreign partners. Tuan from VNAT is upbeat about the country’s tourism this year, saying the sector is receiving first good signals for the whole year. The hospitality sector welcomed nearly 878,000 foreign visitors in the first two months of this year, up 27.4% year-on-year, while the number of local travelers amounts to around 40% of the total number of last year. Last year, the tourism sector reported about 25 million local travelers.