As the weather heats up, tourists start to pack their bags for the holiday. And with travel becoming more accessible, tourists are travelling further than ever. Tourism professionals and businesses that benefit from tourists need to communicate well, in several languages, to serve international tourists. Here are a few simple ways that translation for tourism can help the travel & tourism industry.
1. Help clients find you
First and most importantly, reaching clients in their own language will help them to find you!
Because tourists increasingly use the web to plan their trips, it’s helpful to have a website in multiple languages.
Search engines like Google and Bing rank the websites that appear on the first page of a search according to relevance.
So, you can make sure clients find you by including a page on your website in the language of your tourists.
2. Make your materials user-friendly
Once clients find you, help them learn about your services. Whether you are a tourism office or a restaurant, translating marketing materials can help attract tourists.
They are more likely to come if they can access the information they need!
Naturally, tourist guides are one of the more obvious needs in translation for tourism.
We’ve translated guides from the Algarve all the way to Oslo, and our managing director, Kaori Myatt, wrote a tourist guide for the Basque Country in Japanese called Terre Basque Mer Basque.
However, our own portfolio shows how diverse client needs are: we’ve translated first class menus for executive jets, wine catalogues (the joys of being close to Bordeaux), websites for tourists boards and airport information sites.
3. Attract tourists from different countries
While it’s great to identify and cater to the languages that tourists in your area speak, don’t stop there. Tourists from Asia, for example, are one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in tourism.
If you are involved in tourism, it’s a profitable market to attract. Aside from a website or menu translation, services like interpreting also can help boost tourism.
For instance, over the years we’ve enjoyed interpreting for Japanese journalists and film crews who make documentaries and write articles on the Basque Country.
4. Keep your reputation strong
Undeniably, today’s tourism industry is centred on the Internet. This makes word-to-mouth marketing as easy as a few clicks. At the same time, bad reviews can be a nightmare for a restaurant or tourism-oriented service. That given, it’s more important than ever for companies and organisations to get their translation right.
The comedic value from cheap, clumsy translation is no match for a strategy that employs experts and hits the mark.
Translation for tourism boosts business
To sum up, translation is one of the most simple and effective ways to reach international tourists.
If tourists can find you, learn what you have to offer and have a great experience, they’re more likely to return and share with others.
Professional translation for tourism is a small way to set yourself apart and can yield big rewards.