South West Tourism
Languages help attract foreign tourists to the region
Based in Exeter and employing forty staff, South West Tourism has responsibility for overseeing the South West's thriving tourist trade, which is essential to the region's economy and prosperity. In particular, the organisation strives to attract visitors to the South West, drive up the quality of what is on offer to tourists as well as ensuring the sustainability and development of tourism in the region.
Foreign visitors contribute 14% of the tourism spend in the region. Key markets include Germany, the Netherlands and France, but visitors also come from the USA, Australia, Japan, Spain, Scandinavia and Italy.
Foreign languages and cultural understanding play an important role in helping to promote the region to foreign visitors. For instance, they are necessary when attending exhibitions targeting foreign visitors, and hosting overseas press and tour operator visits.
Because of the importance of overseas markets to the South West tourist trade, it is important that the industry fosters awareness of other countries and cultures. Judy Graydon, Overseas Marketing Manager, explains, "To give the overseas visitor a quality experience, it is important to raise awareness of other cultures amongst staff working in the industry as well as to encourage a basic level of linguistic ability. "
You can't always rely on English
Judy states the value of communication and interaction in other languages, something which is often too easily overlooked by businesses hoping to attract foreign visitors. She comments, "You can't expect to sell something in English if English is not the native language of the person you are selling to. Occasionally you can get away with it, but to guarantee success, you need to be prepared to speak their language.
South West Tourism is committed to ensuring the South West tourist industry has the capability to promote itself successfully to the foreign visitor through raising awareness about language and cultural issues. Amongst various initiatives, it operates the Welcome International course which is designed to give people working in the tourism industry greater confidence meeting and greeting international visitors in another language and develop an appreciation of cultural differences to assist them in improving service standards.
The organisation also recognises the importance of the development of its own multilingual talent. Judy comments, "The company supports the development of multilingual talent proportionate to the size and importance of the overseas tourism market to the South West."
Language an asset for any job
Judy believes that participating in Business Language Champions will highlight how valuable linguistic skills and cultural understanding are now and will be in the future for employment. As she comments, "Languages are an asset for any job, especially these days, where the world is becoming smaller and travel easier. There's greater competition in the worldwide business arena and therefore a greater requirement for companies and their employees to be multilingual to be successful."
Judy hopes that the South West tourist trade will benefit too. She is particularly keen to promote the learning of languages so more people working in tourism will be better placed to promote and welcome international visitors.
Visit the South West Tourism website at www.swtourism.co.uk
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