Press release 9 June 2016
VISITWILTSHIRE INTRODUCES NEW TRANSLATED WEBSITE CONTENT
IN 5 LANGUAGES TO INCREASE ITS INTERNATIONAL APPEAL
VisitWiltshire is reaching out to international visitors with the introduction of new foreign language content on its award-winning tourist board website - www.visitwiltshire.co.uk
From 1 June, welcome and content pages on the VisitWiltshire and Visit Salisbury websites will be available in French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Italian.
This project was part of the recent £5m South West Tourism Growth Fund announced by Government (in March 2015), in which a range of international activity has taken place to grow tourism; deliver economic growth and boost export earnings in the South West of England.
Fiona Errington from VisitWiltshire said, “These 5 languages are the top 5 (non-English speaking) overseas locations generating visits to the website. In the past year we have had 30,000 sessions from visitors in these countries and with the addition of these new language pages the VisitWiltshire website is likely to be picked up in searches overseas, so we would expect to see an increase in our international digital reach.”
The VisitWiltshire and Visit Salisbury websites will be easy for international visitors to use with flags at the top of the page to select the required language. The translated elements include the main top level pages e.g. Home Page, Things to Do, Accommodation, Explore, Food and Drink, Ideas and Inspiration and Plan Your Visit.
Fiona Johnstone Beausoleil from Etymax, the appointed translation provider, said, “Today’s global tourists are more digitally connected, they rely less on tour guides or ticketing agents, and more on online content that they can read in their own language.
“Studies have shown that more than 70% of consumers prefer a website in their own language, when making purchases and reservations. Therefore, translated web content and mobile apps have a far greater chance of being read than monolingual content.
“We are very confident that VisitWiltshire’s localised web content will contribute to a marked increase in international tourism in the region.”
VisitBritain/VisitEngland Chief Executive Sally Balcombe said, “We operate in a constantly evolving digital world and VisitWiltshire’s translated web content is a fantastic example of how the industry can also evolve to connect with customers in their own language.
“We want international visitors to know that England’s regions, such as Wiltshire, are not just beautiful but also packed full of amazing things to see and do, and localised content will help get that message through to even more people, driving tourism across the regions.”
The 2014 economic impact of overseas visitors to Wiltshire showed a 17% increase in staying spend reaching £97m, compared with 2% increase nationally. Whilst visits and nights increased by 15% to 287,000 and 1,740,000 respectively from 2013 – 2014.
This is just one element of VisitWiltshire’s integrated marketing strategy to grow international tourism, with other marketing activity including social media, PR, travel trade and consumer marketing campaigns.
Latest figures from VisitBritain show that 2015 set a record for inbound tourism to Britain on visits and spend with 36.1 million visits, 5% up on 2014, and spending up 1% to £22.1 billion.