Reliable translations are a vital part for any successful tourism business, but many operators do not appreciate the value of this relatively small investment.
Tourism has become New Zealand’s largest foreign currency earner and the Asian visitors, with their limited English knowledge, have become the fastest-growing section of the local market.
“Many NZ operators still don't provide crucial information in their customer’s own language for their Asian visitors or customers who require translation support in other key languages,” says Hayden Barrett, Managing Director of Blue South, New Zealand’s leading translation service.
“Comprehensive high-quality translations in the customer’s mother tongue can be the decisive factor in securing the booking or missing out,” says Mr Barrett.
Blue South Translations supports leading tourism operators around the country by translating their brochures, website content, menus and any other sales and marketing material these companies use.
Mr Barrett says that his company has a proven track record of providing a world-class translation service with over 400 translators in more than 50 countries.
“Unlike many other services, we don’t rely on machine translation software or locally-based foreign nationals, but only use translators who are embedded in their country and language and who are also experts in specific industries and provide the terminology appropriate for those sectors,” says Mr Barrett.
Leading New Zealand tourism operators Tourism Holdings Limited (thl) have used Blue South for many years and Product Marketing Specialist Johanna Denyer says Blue South are extremely professional and provide top quality translations every single time. “Blue South's ability to provide a job on deadline and with excellent service is why thl go back to them again and again," says Ms Denyer.
Mr Barrett says he understands why some companies go for cheap options because they consider translations an unnecessary one-off cost. “In fact, first-class translations are an investment that businesses will continue to benefit from for years to come, and just as importantly, poor translations can do major damage to your brand,” says Mr Barrett.
Languages constantly evolve and because Blue South’s translators are embedded in their countries, they will adjust their translations to the latest trends in their language.
“Our translators will also identify any cultural sensitivities around words, phrases or illustrations in the material that New Zealand operators may not even be aware of.”
Aside from its core translating service, many tourism operators also rely on Blue South’s graphics expertise and software to typeset any translated content into their existing marketing material to supply a complete end-product.
“Trying to import translations can create complex issues and errors because most New Zealand graphic designers do not have the software to do the typesetting in foreign typographies,” says Mr Barrett.
Mr Barrett says his team works with a wide variety of tourism operators and is aware that many of them are small businesses but says that Blue South can provide a service that suits the budgets of most companies.
“Once the translations are done, Blue South has the software that recognises phrases so we can recycle the translated material in other documents at a minimal cost, which provides a great long-term investment for our customers.”