The growth of e-commerce has had a dramatic effect on travel and hospitality marketing.

While consumers once relied on travel agents and other intermediaries to help book and research trips, a number of developments from the growth of sites, such as Airbnb and Google’s high-ranking display of travel results for specific geographic terms, is leading a change in the way consumers buy travel and hospitality services.

Therefore, marketing techniques are changing too.

Today’s travelers rely more on travel apps and websites to conduct their own research and compare prices.

As a result, travel companies are increasingly selling directly to consumers and are using app localization and website translation in order to reach travelers across both geographic and linguistic borders.

Increasingly Competitive E-Commerce Environment

Like many industries, the travel and hospitality industry sees the e-commerce environment becoming increasingly competitive. With more sites and applications offering everything from owner-listed accommodations to discounted flights, your company must find ways to differentiate itself. Successful companies are standing out by offering a wider range of localized content assets in multiple languages.

The Role of Localized Content in Travel E-Commerce

Travelers typically conduct an extensive amount of research when creating travel plans and making bookings.

They want to read about destinations, hotel ambiance and amenities, possible excursions, and details of flights they’re considering. If possible, many travelers want insights from a local expert or access to honest, same-language reviews from other travelers.

If you’re targeting your global growth efforts to consumers in a specific geographic area or language group, localized content can be a major competitive advantage.

The more informed and secure consumers feel in their choice of vacation or travel plans, the more likely you are to secure their business.

Planning for Global Growth With Localization

E-commerce companies have numerous opportunities to grow in the years ahead.

However, smart planning to serve international markets is key. Having a content localization strategy, and using the right travel translation provider, needs to be a top priority for your marketing strategy, on par with making partnerships to offer competitive prices.

Another important area is optimizing sites for mobile growth as the ubiquity of mobile devices explodes around the globe.

Hospitality sites that offer a significant amount of information in consumers’ native languages and have applications and websites that are responsive on mobile devices are most likely to stand out from the competition.

As consumers increasingly ditch the middleman in favor of conducting their own travel research, it is important to keep up and offer them helpful, localized, translated content that will inspire them to make the leap and confirm their travel plans — with you.

Photo by Sara Dubler on Unsplash