how to attract european visitors to your hotel in cornwall

European visitors to Cornwall

• WHO exactly are they?• WHY do they come here?• WHERE do they stay?• HOW do they find out about

Cornwall, accommodation, places to go etc

• WHAT can we do to attract them to our town and hospitality offerings?

Type of visitors

Top 10 overseas markets to UK

Germany is the most popular country outside the UK where visitors to Cornwall originate (31%) .

European VisitorsMainly comprised of:

• Elderly independent travellers• Rise of younger groups of friends

visiting the region• Stronger proportion of families –

represented nearly a quarter of European visitors

Reasons to visit Cornwall

Type of holiday & number of nights in Cornwall

Type of accommodation

Towns visited

Methods of information gathering

BEFORE TRIP

Methods of information gathering

DURING TRIP / AT DESTINATION

Defining a content strategy that matches the European traveller’s

journey

Before the tripLocalised online presence to make sure people FIND you when searching in THEIR language

• Website• Social media• Targeted Google Ads• In-country advertising/promotion• Boost German traffic with localised directory

sites like UrlaubCornwall

At the destinationHelp visitors feel welcome and make the most out of their stay – focus on print materials

• Maps• Translated welcome pack with information on local

transport, places to go, things to to, etc• Localised area on your website about places to go,

attractions etc (great way to get them back on your site once they’re here and upsell your other products like spa, golf, etc)

• Organised transfers to/from airport to hotel?• Offer special car rental deals so visitors can get around

easier? Or even upsell day tours or concierge service?

Is it worth investing in translation?• Think about what you want to achieve (attract

new visitors or upsell to existing visitors? Attract more new direct visitors rather than through commission sites?)

• Think about your ROI – weigh up cost against realistic and potential return

• Translation cost is measurable (price per word for translation, hourly rate for services like social media management and SEO), also include web dev + print cost in your calculations

Is it worth investing in translation?

• Keep cost down by focusing on ‘static content’ first (room info, places to go info, etc) that doesn’t change often and can be re-used for print and web

• Think about long-term costs (updating translations, website updates, printing updated brochures etc)

Is it worth investing in translation?

• Long-term, develop an English-first content strategy but keep localisation in mind from the start

• Think about engagement in social media – do you currently create engaging visual content that could be easily adapted for overseas segment and shared on social? (subtitling on videos etc)

Translation is not a one-off project.

It shouldn’t be an after-thought.

You are better off not doing it than doing it half-heartedly.

Bad translations will damage your brand.

Translation is a long-term marketing strategy.

But done right, it can be fantastic contributor to overall business growth.