logo image
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Localizing at Scale for International Growth
    • Design Thinking May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs
MENU
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Localizing at Scale for International Growth
    • Design Thinking May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs

Register Before April 15th for SlatorCon Remote and Save 15%!

  • Slator Market Intelligence
  • Slator Advertising Services
  • Slator Advisory
  • Login
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Advertisement
Chinese Tourists Demand Translations But Most Hotels Fail to Deliver

4 years ago

July 20, 2017

Chinese Tourists Demand Translations But Most Hotels Fail to Deliver

Demand Drivers ·

by Eden Estopace

On July 20, 2017

4 years ago
Demand Drivers ·

by Eden Estopace

On July 20, 2017

Chinese Tourists Demand Translations But Most Hotels Fail to Deliver

Chinese travelers consider language services, as well as payment facilities and local transport arrangements, as a key area of improvement for hotels and accommodation places, a new survey revealed.

For 9% of Chinese tourists, having travel and tourism guides available in Chinese is the single most important service they expect from their hotels, while 7% mentioned a Chinese language hotel website as an essential service.

These two services were ranked as the fifth and sixth most important areas of improvement for hotels in the poll conducted by market research firm IPSOS for Hotels.com

Advertisement

Asked to identify their top needs when they travel, the poll respondents identified four priority services, including translated travel and tourism guides and in-house Mandarin speaking staff.

These services, however, ranked low in hoteliers’ priorities. Only 18% of hotels offer travel and tourism guides in Chinese and only 21% plan to offer it in the next 12 months. Meanwhile, only 17% of hotels polled also offer in-house Mandarin-speaking staff and only 17% are planning to offer the service in the coming year.

The poll, which was conducted in May 2017 among 3,000 Chinese residents who traveled in the past 12 months, was complemented by a parallel global survey of 3,800 Hotel.com accommodation partners during the same period.

For 9% of Chinese tourists, having travel and tourism guides available in Chinese is the single most important service they expect from their hotels

Results of both surveys were included in the sixth edition of the Chinese International Travel Monitor 2017 (CITM 2017) released recently. The combined report emphasized the language service gap and identified it as a key area where hotels could improve their services for Chinese travelers.

The report noted that hotels’ capability to meet the needs of Chinese travelers vary across regions. “Employing Mandarin-speaking staff was much more a priority for APAC hoteliers with 23% offering this service, compared to 5% in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), 1% in the US, and 11% in Latin America,” the report mentioned.

Most hotels were also found to be investing more on social media (21%) and marketing programs targeting Chinese tourists (18%), rather services such as providing Chinese welcome materials (11%) and increasing Mandarin-speaking staff (10%).

Closing the Service Gap

The poll participants noted that other than family members or friends, key influencers for their travel decision include online and professional channels such as online accommodation websites (cited by 9% of respondents), online review sites (9%), social media (7%), travel magazines and brochures (6%), promotions and deals (6%), media articles (3%), newspapers (1%), and bloggers (1%).

According to the report, 94% of travelers also visited an online price comparison site. These channels require content written in Chinese or translated into Chinese from another language.

Abriham Chowdhry, Vice President and Managing Director, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, Hotels.com, noted in the report that along with increased affluence of Chinese citizens, the easing of visa restrictions around the globe has helped fuel the massive growth of Chinese international travelers.

“Our research shows that the accommodation industry needs to build a better understanding of these more diverse and adventurous travelers and adapt to the changing needs and preferences from all age groups given their significant spending power, sheer numbers and ability to boost local economies,” he said.

The report cited many case studies of how hotels in different parts of the world are improving their language services to attract Chinese tourists.

“The Four Seasons in the Washington, Georgetown neighborhood offers Chinese language television and newspapers and plan to introduce more traditional Chinese dishes on its room service and restaurant menus,” the report cited.

Meanwhile, Travelodge in Bicester reportedly employed a language tutor to teach staff key Mandarin phrases. Hotel.com’s own efforts in servicing Chinese customers include launching a website in simplified Chinese, adopting a Chinese name —  “Hao Ding” — for its brand, employing native Mandarin speaking agents in its call center.

Tourist Surge, Hotel Boom

The hoteliers’ survey revealed that on a global scale, around 83% of hotels have Chinese guests, 4% higher than last year. APAC has by far the most Chinese guests (15% of the hotel business in the region, compared to the average 3-6% in other regions).

Visitors to Europe, however, surged 25% in the past 12 months, and the US, 11%, according to the report. Chinese travelers visiting Japan also increased by 27% in 2014 —  from 4.9 million to 6.3 million, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. This was sustained in 2015 and 2016 as the Chinese were ranked #1 for inbound tourists to Japan for two consecutive years.

Translate and they will come

Data from Statista showed that 2.59 million visitors visited the US from China in 2015. This figure is expected to reach 5.72 million by 2021. The US Travel Association noted in its own report that Chinese visitors spend roughly USD 7,200 per person in the US, much more than visitors from other nations.

Meanwhile, the report indicated that Latin American hotels are seeing growth in Chinese guests as well —  44% of hotels reported an increase in Chinese visitors, 21% up from previous years.

Chowdhry noted that hotels are still preferred over other forms of accommodation and Chinese travelers “will not stint on quality and are willing to pay for it.”

Opportunities for Language Service Providers

The report provides ample ammunition for language service providers to engage hotels and travel site in a conversation about making their web presence and information and marketing collateral available in Chinese and other major tourist languages. Translate it and they will come.

TAGS

Chinese touristsHotels.comMandarintourismtravel
SHARE
Eden Estopace

By Eden Estopace

IT journalist and Online Editor at Slator. Loves books, movies, and gadgets; writes for a living, but codes for fun.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SLATOR WEEKLY

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

SUBSCRIBE

SlatorSweepSlatorPro
ResearchRFP CENTER

PUBLISH

PRESS RELEASEDIRECTORY LISTING
JOB ADEVENT LISTING

Bespoke advisory including speaking, briefings and M&A

SLATOR ADVISORY
Advertisement

Featured Reports

See all
Pro Guide: Translation Pricing and Procurement

Pro Guide: Translation Pricing and Procurement

by Slator

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

by Slator

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

by Slator

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

by Slator

Press Releases

See all
LocHub Announces QA Localization Solution For Multilingual Content Publishing Processes

LocHub Announces QA Localization Solution For Multilingual Content Publishing Processes

by Xillio

Former TrustPoint Translations CEO Joins XTRF Advisory Board

Former TrustPoint Translations CEO Joins XTRF Advisory Board

by XTRF

Global Ready Conference Lineup Announced

Global Ready Conference Lineup Announced

by Smartling

Upcoming Events

See All
  1. Smartling - Global Ready Conference 2021

    Global Ready Conference

    by Smartling

    · April 14

    When you can't traverse the world, let the world come to you. Join our annual global event from home.

    More info FREE

Featured Companies

See all
Sunyu Transphere

Sunyu Transphere

Text United

Text United

Memsource

Memsource

Wordbank

Wordbank

Protranslating

Protranslating

SeproTec

SeproTec

Versacom

Versacom

Smartling

Smartling

XTM International

XTM International

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders

STAR Group

STAR Group

memoQ Translation Technologies

memoQ Translation Technologies

Advertisement

Popular articles

Google Translate Not Ready for Use in Medical Emergencies But Improving Fast — Study

Google Translate Not Ready for Use in Medical Emergencies But Improving Fast — Study

by Seyma Albarino

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

by Slator

DeepL Adds 13 European Languages as Traffic Continues to Surge

DeepL Adds 13 European Languages as Traffic Continues to Surge

by Marion Marking

SlatorPod: The Weekly Language Industry Podcast

connect with us

footer logo

Slator makes business sense of the language services and technology market.

Our Company

  • Support
  • About us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to the Slator Weekly

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

© 2021 Slator. All rights reserved.

Sign up to the Slator Weekly

Join over 13,800 subscribers and get the latest language industry intelligence every Friday

Your information will never be shared with third parties. No Spam.