Emerging Market Travelers: Trends and Best Practices

In recent years, with the development of the global tourism industry, travelers from emerging markets have gradually become a key driving force in the industry. Arrow Translation and travel data platform Skift jointly discussed the growth opportunities and challenges of travelers from Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC countries) in the global tourism market.

The rise of emerging market travelers

The demographic structure of global travelers has changed dramatically over the past decade, with most of the growth coming from non-English speaking countries. The huge potential of these markets provides lucrative business opportunities for the tourism and hotel industries, but also places higher demands on service capabilities.

To attract these high-value travelers, travel companies need to develop strategies that reflect their unique behaviors and preferences throughout the travel lifecycle, including:

1. Research and booking phase:

For travelers in emerging markets, a language-accessible online booking process and targeted marketing content are essential.

2. Travel experience stage:

Improve traveler satisfaction through localized services such as multilingual support and culturally appropriate service facilities.

3. Subsequent interaction stage:

Keep in touch with customers after their trip with language-adapted feedback forms and marketing campaigns to foster long-term customer relationships.

The key role of language and culture

Although many companies have realized the importance of multilingual communication, it is far from enough to just do this. In order to truly win the favor of emerging market travelers, travel companies must have a deep understanding of the impact of the following factors on customer experience:

Language requirements:

Ensure key content is available in travelers’ native languages, including booking sites, service descriptions, and customer support.

Cultural differences:

Understand the cultural background of travelers, such as Chinese travelers' preference for group tours or Indian travelers' emphasis on dining options.

Technology Preference:

Targeting the technology usage habits of travelers in different markets, for example, Russian users prefer desktop browsing, while Chinese users rely more on mobile applications.

Payment habits:

Offer options that match local market payment preferences, such as WeChat Pay in China or local credit card processing in Brazil.

Strategies for Efficiently Implementing Global Services

Responding to the needs of emerging market travelers may seem complex and costly, but it doesn’t have to be. Many businesses have achieved significant return on investment (ROI) by focusing resources on strategic key touchpoints and adopting the following best practices:

1. Strategic priorities

Focus your efforts on the stages that have the greatest impact on customer experience and business revenue, such as optimizing the booking process or improving multilingual support for destination services.

2. Use advanced global content management technology

Through localization management platforms (such as translation memory technology and globalization management systems), enterprises can manage multilingual content more efficiently.

3. Process optimization

Adopt standardized workflows for your translation and localization needs to ensure consistency and reduce duplication of work.

4. Data-driven decision making

Use customer behavior data to analyze the preferences and pain points of travelers in emerging markets and develop more precise market strategies.

Cases and insights

During our collaboration, we found that many companies needed more attention in the following areas:

Simplified booking process:

A cumbersome booking process can turn away potential customers, especially on mobile devices.

Insufficient content localization:

Many travel brands overlook the importance of localizing their content, especially when it comes to appealing to Chinese travelers.

Lack of Customer Support:

80% of customers want support in their native language, but many companies’ multilingual customer service capabilities fail to meet this demand.

Arrow Translation Solutions

Arrow Translation is committed to providing efficient language and content solutions to the travel and hospitality industry, helping companies meet the complex needs of travelers in emerging markets. Our services include:

Multilingual content creation and optimization: covering core content such as booking websites, promotional materials, customer service scripts, etc.

Customer Service Language Support: Provide native-speaking call center and real-time translation services to enhance customer experience.

Localization strategy consulting: Combined with market research, we help companies develop content strategies for emerging markets.

Data-driven content management: Analyze and optimize the ROI of global content through advanced tools.

Explore more

If you would like to learn more about how to attract travelers from emerging markets, please visit Arrow Translation official website or contact our travel industry team. We will provide you with tailor-made global language solutions to help you succeed in emerging markets.

Arrow Translation: Providing one-stop language and content support for global travel brands, helping you achieve business growth!

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