THE Tourism Ministry will stick with its Visit Malaysia Year 2020 (VMY2020) logo, said Nazri Aziz, despite it being panned as amateurish and poorly designed on social media.

The minister said the logo is for foreigners and aimed at the 36 million foreign tourists the country hoped to reel in during the VMY 2020

“I have no intention of changing. We are not going back. It was meant for foreign tourist and not locals. When I launched it in Chiang Mai they liked and praised it.

“We did not pay a single sen. The one who designed it is our own staff. I trust my staff that has more than 30 years in tourism in this matter,” he told The Malaysian Insight today.

Nazri said while criticism is normal he would stick with the logo.

“It’s okay if people want to say negative things,” he said, noting that the same ministry employee designed the previous four VMY logos.

Nazri launched the logo on Friday at the Asean Tourism Forum (ATF) 2018 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The emblem features a cartoon of an orangutan in sunglasses hugging a proboscis monkey, a silhouette of the Petronas Twin Towers and a turtle on a beach also wearing sunglasses.

The caption that accompanies the logo is “Travel. Enjoy. Respect”, which Nazri was reported saying as being in line with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)‘s aspirations.

“It is their tagline. They allowed us to use it. It is to promote eco tourism and we are for it,” he said today.

Social media users however have slammed the logo as amateurish and poorly designed.

Rosli Hassan, a senior designer at the ministry involved in the design said he was just doing his job based on the idea that was agreed by the department and ministry following discussions with Nazri.

“As a civil servant, I’m just doing the work that was assigned (to me),” Rosli told The Malaysian Insight.

Rosli said he is being ridiculed on social media after the issue of the logo went viral.

“I think it’s not right put the blame on me,” he said, adding that he is mulling the idea of filing a lawsuit against those who tarnish his reputation.

He added that he also did not receive any payment for designing the logo as he was just doing his job at the agency.

Rosli’s previous work includes a symbol for Malaysia’s Scorpene submarines in 2008 as well as the logo of Tourism and Culture Ministry. – January 28, 2018.