About the author: 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.
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.
About Lingo24 Translation Services - Much more than a traditional translation agency, Lingo24 Translation Services
provides professional language translation and other services to blue
chip companies and other translation agencies throughout the world. On
time, on budget, to the requisite standard - and, generally speaking,
with a smile thrown in for free!
We are specialists in the English and Swedish language pair. We also provide full service translations for other languages. Affordable, Quick and Accurate Solutions. Please contact us for a quote All the best // AGURENs Translation Vi är specialister på det Engelska och Svenska språket. Vi har även heltäckande tjänster för många andra språk. Prisvärda, Snabba och Exakta Lösningar. Vänligen kontakta oss för en offert Med Vänliga Hälsningar // AGURENs Translations
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