Translation for the global travel industry: attention to detail
pays
As the World Travel Market opens in London, with over 50,000
representatives from 190 different countries, what better time to
consider how travel and tourism as a sector can best respond to the
challenge of communicating internationally and growing overseas
markets. Travel and tourism is an inherently international
industry, and is already one of the largest online market sectors.
But companies in this sector could grow their revenue significantly
if they were to address the localisation of products more
professionally and market themselves more effectively on the
Internet.
Tailoring your message to speak the buyer's
language
The simple fact is that you need to address users of your
service in their own language. Although English is the
international business language, research has shown that even
fluent English speakers are much more likely to buy from a company
whose website has content in their native tongue. Producing and
maintaining multi-lingual content has become even more important in
the last couple of years, as Internet growth in emerging markets
has reduced the market share of English online (based on page
views) from over 50% in 2002 to under 30% now.
As with all marketing copy, web content selling travel products
must be closely tailored to the potential buyer's needs and
desires. This is more important when selling an intangible
experience, which must be exciting, luxurious and different enough
to get the prospective buyer's juices flowing and to encourage him
to make a purchase. The task becomes even more challenging when you
are seeking to attract buyers from different countries, all of whom
have different cultural backgrounds and have different which you
need to push. For example, as Roy Graff, a former director of
octopustravel.com in China, explains, you wouldn't market to
Chinese visitors in the same way as you would to westerners:
"Chinese people coming to the UK are interested in the country's
history, but their real focus is on shopping. Many items considered
by the Chinese to be luxurious are much cheaper here, and they
enjoy trips to places like Bicester village where they can buy
British products for less than they can at home. The Chinese are
less interested in cultural events like theatre where the foreign
words and cultural references wouldn't resonate with them."
So when trying to attract Chinese (or indeed, any other)
visitors to come to these shores, it's worth keeping at the
forefront of one's mind what exactly is going to sell them on the
idea of making that trip. This is where the localisation of copy
becomes a necessity in order to target your message appropriately.
As more people the world over use the Internet to plan their trips
rather than going through traditional travel agencies, it is vital
that your message bridges any cultural and linguistic divides which
might separate you from your target customers.
Managing multi-lingual content
Professional translation and localisation are now a necessity
for travel companies and tourism organisations alike. But having
all this material in foreign languages can pose its own challenges.
How do you ensure that foreign character sets appear appropriately
on your website? How can you avoid your staff having to copy and
paste material in a language they don't know into your content
management system (a recipe for disaster, if our experience is
anything to go by!)? How do you ensure you are using translation
technologies effectively to keep costs down? We at Lingo24 have
seen companies try to manage their translated content in-house, and
we've witnessed some well-intentioned but horrendously inefficient
attempts to take a perfectly good website and make it
multi-lingual. It is not a simple matter, and it's something
translation service providers are best placed to handle in
consultation with client companies. As with other web projects, it
is best to plan how a multi-lingual website will work well before
it is actually constructed.
Translate and they will come?
Of course, there is little point having a slick multi-lingual
website if you aren't able to attract enough of the right visitors
to make a good return on your investment in foreign language
content. The key is to establish where you need to appear online,
be it through search engine listings or on partner websites, in
order to drive targeted traffic. To achieve this, you really need
to have an understanding of the 'online scene' in each of your
target markets, and a partner who can help you achieve the
positioning that will generate returns. It's also important to
measure both your successes and failures in online marketing, as
this will enable you to optimise your campaigns over time. In an
online marketplace as crowded and competitive as travel and
tourism, those companies that seize the initiative to build
well-targeted, highly visible and manageable, multi-lingual sites
will reap the rewards now and for years to come.
Christian Arno is a director of Lingo24, one of the UK's leading
translation agencies. With operations in seven different countries
including New Zealand, Lingo deliver translation services
round-the-clock to market leaders in a variety of different
sectors.
Lingo24 Translation Services - Lingo24 Translation Services