The travel boom is real, though the sudden surge flattened many airlines and airports. In 2022, nearly 5.8 million international tourists arrived, and 4 million of them were from Africa, an increase of 152.6 percent over the previous year. The trend continued this year, with the first quarter of 2023 seeing a 102.5 percent increase in international arrivals year over year. This sudden spike in demand for travel caught many airlines and airports short-staffed, leading to delays and many canceled plans.
Against such a backdrop, intelligent travelers are researching ahead of time and poring over websites to avoid surprises. Travel and hospitality companies need to localize content to respond to the influx of international travelers who want to remain informed of the latest information and travel quickly.
Insight 1: Travelers Seek Online Resources for Smooth Journeys
Today’s travelers depend on the internet to plan adventures down to the finest detail. They spend hours scouring the web for sights to see, hotels to stay in, and buses and trains to take, but how has the digital boom affected the tourism industry? Most businesses are now recognized across the globe.
Common Languages Spoken by Travelers: The Key to Connectivity
Good communication is vital to human interaction and is a central selling point for travel. With over 6,000 languages spoken worldwide, a business that markets only to the English-speaking public is limited to a tiny market sector. English is the most widely spoken language in the world, but native English speakers make up only 20 percent of the population, and a large percentage of those native speakers are non-native speakers.
By localizing their content for travelers from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, companies can engage with people in a way that transcends language barriers and form new connections with prospective customers.
Insight 2: English Alone Is Insufficient for Global Tourism Outreach
However, despite English being the most widely spoken language, business owners relying solely on English as their primary means of communication with international travelers are missing out on many potential opportunities. Suppose a company wants to attract and interest audiences around the globe. In that case, the only way to do so is by localizing its content – in other words, by making it available in the languages and forms most suitable and commonly used in its target markets.
Leveraging Localization for the Travel Industry: A Strategic Approach
- Know Your Customers: The Foundation of Effective Localization
Understanding the target audience is essential for successful localization. Knowing which native languages potential customers speak and which cultural backgrounds they might have allows companies to translate only the most relevant information into meaningful, understandable text created according to local customs for local purposes.
An excellent example of localization that has done well is Airbnb. Since its launch in 2008, the company has become a global leader in tourism, connecting international travelers through its website. It has partnered with locals abroad, learned how to adapt its offerings to the needs of local communities, and rewarded users for sharing and referring others. It has also translated its content into 26 languages and ensured it was locally relevant.
Insight 3: Travel Tendencies Vary Across Regions
For example, in the US—a vast country—leisure trips are primarily domestic, but international travel trips are more prevalent in Europe or Asia. Before localization begins, a company must define its target audience and understand the travel styles in that target market.
Constant monitoring of travel trends can help a company adjust localization efforts accordingly and seize opportunities to reach new customers. Potential customers can be solicited about their preferences and expectations in localized customer communications.
WordAtlas data shows that citizens of Finland, the United States, and Sweden take the most trips per person each year. Notably, for the top 10 countries, the average number of international trips per person per year is the greatest for persons in Hong Kong. This information could be a good starting point for companies to start their research and localization efforts.
- Prioritize Content for Translation
After the target audience is defined and thoroughly researched, it will be easier for businesses to determine what content should be translated. In particular, translation projects can be prioritized by the target audience’s needs and preferences. Localization can be complicated and time-consuming as complexity increases with multiple markets. Working with localization partners specialized in translation can streamline the process, helping deliver successful outcomes and saving time and money.
- Leverage the Right Localization Platform
A successful localization strategy requires the right tools and professionals. An enterprise localization platform with professional native-speaking, certified translators, best-of-breed translation management system (TMS) integrations, advanced AI translation technology, and experienced localization experts guarantees quality, saves time and money, and helps businesses achieve their localization goals efficiently.
Working with a localization platform specializing in the tourism sector and offering translators with relevant knowledge will give you a head start, but implementing your hospitality localization strategy can only go as far as observing what works and what doesn’t.
Even experienced in-house localization teams can need additional support to tackle unique challenges. Bea Verdasco, the former Director of Localization at KAYAK, explained that for their sites in right-to-left languages such as Hebrew and Arabic, ‘Launching our Israel site in Hebrew, and our Saudi Arabia site in Arabic was challenging. Before we even started translating text strings, we had to overhaul the language version of our TMS to handle RTL. Adding RTL to our localization processes was a mind-bending journey into the looking glass.’ Companies that work with a seasoned localization company can avoid such mazes and, as a result, save time, money, and resources.
The Interplay Between Localization and the Digital Realm
Localization has become a crucial element of the travel and hospitality sector – with traditional materials such as websites, flyers, and guidebooks, as well as in the online space where an increasing number of travelers make flight and hotel bookings. The sector must constantly localize graphic user interfaces (GUIs) and insert keywords for search engine optimization (SEO) to keep up with the latest online trends.
GUI localization guarantees a smooth customer experience, even in the most basic interactions with a platform or app. For example, buttons have a standard shape that will be adapted to suit different languages, such as the French default of long command lengths. A good example would be an airplane touchscreen for language selection, which could experience errors if the buttons had to be manipulated differently to suit the size of commands in different languages. If this is not considered, it can result in a bad tourist experience and an uncomfortable, unprofessional-looking passenger who is likely to post about it on social media.
Optimizing Your Localization for Tourism with a Reputable Company
A key benefit of having a trusted localization company partner is keeping up with constantly changing content demands and offering travelers a seamless experience. These companies offer hassle-free platforms where businesses can allow their websites, apps, marketing content, and more to be translated by certified professional translators worldwide, many of whom specialize in the hospitality and travel sectors.
Since businesses don’t need to waste time finding trustworthy translators, they can curate their team of human wordsmiths who can provide consistent, on-brand translations. With data enrichment, machine translation, translation memories, and API-powered automation tools, these platforms have the technology to make localization fast, affordable, and effective. Localization experts also ensure the quality of the work.
This involves working with a trusted localization partner to serve up high-quality, localized content that speaks to audiences, forms deeper connections, and enables travel and tourism companies to compete more in an ever-expanding global market.
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