Multilingual or Multicultural

Tourism is a global activity. With few exceptions everyone in the world travels. International arrivals are a fact of life and for many countries, foreign visitors’ expenditures constitute their number one revenue stream. In today’s interconnected world one can communicate with thousands if not millions of people in far away lands via the Internet. Many DMO websites contain information in various languages. But is this content just a translation or is it culturally relevant?

Marketing internationally requires cultural sensitivity. There are many examples of faux pas committed by marketers targeting foreign customers. A famous one in the auto industry is the legend of the Chevy Nova. Nova in Spanish means “it doesn’t go,” so when it was marketed in Latin America as the Chevy Nova it became a joke. You also need to remember one of marketing’s most important lessons: know your customer.

If you have or will have content in a foreign language on your marketing materials, be it off or online, make sure it’s reviewed by people who understand the target culture very well. While Spaniards may be attracted to wide open spaces and activities like rafting and heli-skiing, Mexicans may not. So don’t waste valuable resources marketing something your target market is not interested in. While Japanese may be love Anne of Green Gables, Argentinians may not have even heard of this famous Canadian character. Germans may want to spend a few days in a First Nations reserve, but Peruvians probably may not. Language translation is not enough for effective marketing. Get to know your prospective guests and market to them in their culture, not just their language. Also remember that within any country there are many consumer segments, just as there are in yours, and market accordingly.

Cheers,
Jaime

Relevance, Relevance, Relevance

So you are planning to launch a blog for your tourism business or destination. Or perhaps you are looking at producing podcasts for your destination. Lately, you have been reading and hearing about Web 2.0 (or even 3.0), Wikinomics, Facebook, Flickr and a myriad new and not so new web services that some claim you must use if you want to remain competitive in today’s global tourism marketplace.

Relax. You may not need to do anything beyond your see and read static or semi-static website. Before you even consider more Web related expenses go back to your business plan and your overall strategy in order to decide if the new web vehicles are for you. Remember your target market. If your customers are mostly busy adults and 50+ semi-retired people, they may not be interested in Social Media whatsoever or may not use it often enough to justify an investment

If you decide that these tools can be of great help to achieve your business objectives, then go ahead. But remember that the key success factor on the Internet is relevance. If you launch a blog, make sure the blog is relevant to your potential users. Make sure they know where to find it and make absolutely sure that the blog is maintained and updated as often as it makes sense. If you accept comments from your blog visitors (always a good idea to hear from your customers and potential guests) make sure comments are authorized before posting because you want to guard against spammers and you don’t want untoward or offensive material on the blog.

Social Media. Can you make use of it? Of course you can, but it’s also a two way street. If you wanted to form a Facebook group (or similar online community like your own Ning) about your attraction or destination wherein you would invite guests and potential guests to join, first make sure that this is something they would be interested in. If they were interested, a Facebook group could be very beneficial to your organization (be it a hotel, attraction or destination). Your Facebook group friends could provide valuable guest insight and become great promoters of your business. The difference between this approach and Tripadvisor, for example, is that you would be able to control who belongs to the group thereby preventing negative content that can hurt you (though disgruntled guests might still post negative reviews on Tripadvisor).

Jaime

Social Media and SEO are no substitute for Advertising and PR

How do people find out about your destination or tourism business? How did your guests come to your particular hotel or B&B? How did your customers learn about your attraction? Was it through your website? Through a brochure? Or through a relationship with a tour operator/travel agent? Did your guest searched on the Internet for your destination? And if so, how did they know what to search for in the first place?

The more specific you can be about answering these questions the more you will be able to compete in the crowded global tourism market. When it comes to basics the fact is potential customers will never come to you if they don’t know you exist in the first place. While website optimization and Social Media initiatives are becoming increasingly important for tourism destinations and businesses, advertising and PR are still the best way to get known. It may be online advertising, but it is still (paid) advertising.

Search engine optimization and incursions into social media are no substitutes for advertising. Online advertising investment in the US in recent years has been growing substantially but it is still only about 6.5% of ad expenditures (TV and Print account for over 80% - source: TNS). Online advertising grew 17% from 2005 to 2006, by far the largest increase in the ad world (followed by Spanish TV and Spanish Press advertising with 13.9% and 8.5% respectively). As convergence continues to happen (the combination of video, print and interactive content delivered via many devices) it will be harder to separate the media, but what is clear is that the market still believes in advertising.

In order to first inform the consumer that something or somewhere exists, organizations need to advertise. Furthermore, good advertising may still be the best way to brand a product or service. You can optimize your website for search engines all you want, but if people are not searching for your product or destination, they will never come across it. For example, say you want to promote your destination in Spain because you’ve heard that it’s an up and coming market and Spaniards have a high standard of living and are affluent enough to travel to Canada. But other than Canada as a peaceful country, most Spaniards don’t know much about it as a tourism destination and it’s not in most peoples’ radars. You just launched a blog about your destination in Spanish and you found someone who can keep it going in that language. The problem is Spaniards are not searching for blogs in Spanish about Canada. How can you get them to visit the blog? Advertising. Blogs, Social Media and Search engines are great when people participate, but for them to do this they have to be interested in the topic (i.e. the destination) and if they don’t know anything about you or even that you exist, how will they?

Jaime

Mexico once again one of the strongest of all inbound markets but there are clouds on the horizon.

Mexico was up 10.1% in July compared to the same month last year and up 16.7% for the Jan to July period. July is the busiest and most expensive month for travel from Mexico to Canada. The numbers may be approaching air capacity at more than 1,500 visitors per day (47,323 for the month) and may stabilize around this number unless more lift is added in coming years. For the first time ever Canada received over 150,000 Mexican visitors during the first half of the year (according to CTC data Mexicans spend on average $1,420 per trip – in my experience many spend a lot more than that).

Good numbers notwithstanding, it is now more important than ever to continue developing this market. Canada must position itself as a “must visit” destination in the minds of Mexican consumers, for two very important reasons:

1) the continued strength of the Canadian dollar vis a vis the US greenback may start to affect travel from Mexico to Canada. In the past two years some packages from Mexico to Canada have gone up almost 40% in price. Some packages are up almost 20% from last year (packages from Mexico to Canada are priced in US dollars even though the consumer can pay the equivalent in pesos). While price elasticity is quite good among affluent Mexicans, higher prices and a higher Canadian dollar may encourage them to look at their opportunity costs, e.g. Where else can we go for this amount of money?

2) more threatening than a high Canadian dollar is the possibility that the Canadian government may impose visa restrictions on Mexican visitors. If you read the Globe and Mail you may have seen several articles in recent weeks commenting on the fact that Mexicans are now the number one nationality seeking refugee status in Canada. While the overwhelming majority of these claims are bogus, the fact is that the numbers are beginning to get the attention of the media and the government. Not too long ago Costa Rica was slapped with visa requirements after the numbers of Costa Rican visitors overstaying their welcome in Canada became an issue. A visa requirement for Mexican visitors could result in a dramatic reduction in tourists that could take a few years to overcome. It is unfortunate that the unethical behaviour of the few can make things very difficult for the many. Mais, c'est la vie n'est pas?

What can be done about these clouds on the horizon? Regarding the Canadian dollar I would suggest that suppliers and tour operators take their sharp pencils out and price their offerings as competitively as possible. Regarding visas I think we, as an industry, should be proactive and try and prevent the visa restriction from happening. One thing the Canadian government could do is amend the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States so that Mexicans cannot ask for refugee status at the border (under the agreement nationals from countries for which Canada does not require visas are exempted from the Safe Third Country Agreement).

I am thinking of writing a letter to government officials regarding this issue. A few years ago when Canada imposed visas on Costa Ricans, I spoke to an official at the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration to inquire about whether Mexico might also get a visa restriction. Government being government, I did not get a straight answer other than that all exempted countries are monitored on an ongoing basis, but at that time things look good with Mexico. But that was before the Safe Third Country deal and before Mexicans became the #1 refugee claimants. In my letter I plan to suggest that if Mexico is to get visa restrictions it may be helpful to work on a deal whereby Mexicans who have US visitor visas can be exempted from the Canadian visa (over 9 million Mexicans have US visitor visas). If that is not possible (probably not politically correct) then perhaps the visa restriction can be delayed in order to figure out the fastest and most efficient way for Mexicans to get one and to give time to the tourism industry to adjust and prepare for the initial shock.

Finally, I reiterate the importance of marketing in all its forms to continue to position Canada as a must visit destination all year round.

If you have any ideas or suggestions about this issue please leave a comment.

Saludos,

Jaime

Lately it's been Toronto, Toronto, Toronto. I'm covering the Toronto International Film Festival.

For the past several days, I have been immersed in cinema. The movies are an obsession in certain parts of the Hispanic world. Hispanics love movies and movie stars, sometimes with a passion surpassed only by soccer. And so it is, that I find myself covering the Toronto International Film Festival for my Blog de Canadá blog. Attending the Festival is one of the best ways to enjoy Toronto. The ambience during the festival is second to none in any city in Northamerica: people strolling along Toronto's Millionaire's Mile and along Yorkville's sidestreets, buskers providing free entertainment on the corners, and perhpas the occassional movie star sighting. A poll commissioned by the Toronto Star and Montréal's La Presse found that the Canadian event most covered by international media is the Toronto International Film Festival by a very long margin with 25% of the mentions. No word on whether Hipanic media was scanned, but my own research seems to point in the right direction. The TIFF gives Toronto worldwide caché and appeal so kudos and thanks should go to the orginal founders: William Marshall, Henk Van der Kolk and Dusty Cohl for their contributon to Toronto (and Canada's tourism).

Cheers,

Jaime

Toronto en Español