New destination brand for south central coast provinces

Tourists visit the ancient citadel in Hue city, Thua Thien Hue. (Source: VNA)

Da Nang (VNA) – Three south central coast provinces, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam and Da Nang, have agreed on a new shared destination brand of “The Essence of Vietnam.”

Leaders of the three Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism signed an agreement on the shared brand, witnessed by a representative of the EU-funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programme (EU-ESRT).

It is the result of a long-term consultation process with the EU-ESRT via conferences and meetings with working groups from the provinces.

The new brand, which was proposed by EU-ESRT experts, reflects the convergence of Vietnam’s original tourism products in the area, ranging from culture, history, nature, to islands and cities.

It is also compatible with Vietnam’s national brand “Vietnam – Timeless Charm.”

The EU-ESRT will continue coordinating with working groups from the three provinces to complete the brand’s logo and slogan, advise on marketing and help complete a website promoting the three provinces.

According to Florian Sengstschmid from the EU-ESRT, the “The Essence of Vietnam” should be used to attract international visitors, with long-term marketing strategies necessary to promote the brand to potential customers.

The EU-ESRT is the largest-ever technical tourism programme in Vietnam sponsored by the EU with the goal of mainstreaming responsible tourism principles into Vietnam’s tourism sector to enhance competitiveness.

The 11 million EUR project was initially implemented from 2011 to 2015 and was expanded to November 2016, with a focus on policy support and institutional strengthening, product competitiveness, public-private-partnerships and vocational training.-VNA