The new official logo for Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign will be announced in May, says Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Mohamaddin Ketapi.

Mohamaddin said today that the logo would be announced as soon as the winners of the Visit Malaysia 2020 logo design competition, which began on March 11, are finalised.

"The first prize winner selected from 586 participants received will be chosen as the new official logo for Visit Malaysia 2020,” he told reporters after opening a U-Pustaka Bookworm Run 2019 at Dataran Merdeka.

Mohamaddin said the criteria for the logo is that the design must symbolise the arts and culture of the communities in country, as well as the various attractive ecotourism products in Malaysia.

The competition closed on March 24.

The existing logo launched during the Asean Tourism Forum in Chiang Mai early last year received negative feedback from various parties.

Meanwhile, National Library director-general Nafisah Ahmad said the Bookworm Run is to expose participants to the various services of U-Pustaka.

“U-Pustaka is a digital library platform (online library) which combines physical and digital collections… the run is to fulfil the programme of making Kuala Lumpur the World Book Capital 2020,” she said.

The programme was organised by the National Library with the cooperation of the Communications and Multimedia Ministry and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, in conjunction with the eighth U-Pustaka. 

It saw almost 4,000 participants from various ages and races, including foreigners, taking part.

- Bernama