Reach a Global Audience in Terms They Understand

One unique aspect of the travel industry is that tour and activity companies have a global audience – they could hail from a completely different country and speak any language. Many tour operators want to attract a global audience, but it’s not always possible to translate their company website into every language that is spoken around the globe. However, it may be time to consider offering a translation for one or two languages that are spoken widely by your largest demographics. For example, Spanish is a language spoken in multiple countries by a huge number of people. Similarly, the growth of the Chinese market means that offering a Chinese-language version of your website could boost your bookings quite significantly.

Here are a few of the benefits associated with translating your website into a different language: 

It allows you to establish your brand identity with a global audience

As a tour operator, you should use your website analytics or booking data in order to determine where the majority of your customers originate. If you notice that your tours are typically booked by visitors who are coming from an international destination where a different primary language is spoken, it may be time to offer a website translation into that language. This makes your brand more appealing and alluring to travelers from this destination, and may attract an increase in customers from that region. Similarly, if you notice a large number of website visitors from a country with a different primary language who do not end up booking with you, offering a translated version of your website could be the thing that finally converts them.

It can help you appeal to new customers who may not have otherwise discovered your business.

To use a previous example to demonstrate our point, you may or may not have known that Spanish actually has more native speakers than English does. It has anywhere between 430 and 475 million native speakers and it is an official language in 21 countries. If you have your website translated into Spanish, this new translation might help you establish a brand identity amongst a completely different and potentially very large demographic, such as travelers from South America or Mexico. By offering a website in a language that feels natural and familiar, your brand will appear more welcoming and appealing. It is also worth mentioning, to build on the Spanish and Chinese examples, that the populations of Spanish-speaking countries and China by and large have a lower level of proficiency in English (source) . This means that a translated website could be a necessity if you wish to appeal to these markets.

It will boost your customer satisfaction ratings and improve your feedback online.

Offering a website translation is an extra effort and feature that many other tour and activity operators will not bother with implementing. However, travelers take note when a website is translated into a language that they are fluent in and that they speak comfortably, and it will immediately improve their initial experience with your brand. You will find that by offering translations that accommodate your most powerful and noteworthy market segments, your satisfaction ratings will increase and you will see a boost in the online feedback that is necessary to developing your brand in today’s digital age.

Rezdy is the online booking engine that was designed with tour and activity operators in mind, recognizing that many businesses in the tour and activity industry work with international customers who speak different languages and use a vast range of currencies. With Rezdy, you can easily adapt your website for the international market, and the channel manager also allows you to accept bookings from travelers who use currencies from around the world. To learn more about Rezdy and how it can help you tap into the international travel market, begin your free trial today.