How to Adapt & Localize Your Travel Website for Mobile

Lucy Xu

October 9, 2018

5 min read

With mobile becoming increasingly popular and prevalent, more and more travelers will inevitably search for information on mobile devices while they are traveling; something you should be keeping in mind when building your travel website or app. Making things more mobile-compatible could mean having a responsive design that makes it easy for customers to find places, book transportation, or switch between languages with a prominent country selector button. And as you take these mobile and global aspects into consideration, the piece that ties it all together for your new international markets is your content localization process.

In our previous posts on #TravelLocalization, we walked through key travel industry trends and the localization fundamentals that every travel company must know in order to reach their global audiences. Now, we go into the specifics of what you should be taking into account when adapting and localizing your travel website for mobile.

Dive into this latest #TravelLocalization post for the details on how to localize the various types of tech and collateral you may have.

1. Take Into Account Screen Size Limitations

You may have designed your travel-related website or app to be read well in English, but it may not read as well German, Russian, or other languages in which words might take up more space. Some target languages increase the character count by as much as 35 percent over the English source content. In order to prevent text run-over, when designing for the English user interface (UI), try to leave text boxes a little larger.

2. Leverage Icons (vs. Text)

Aside from not requiring text to relay meaning and taking up far less space, using globally recognized icons is a great visual indicator and are used in almost every desktop and web application to help convey a large amount of functionality and action in a relatively small space. Icons used in a mobile space must often stand alone (without text) and convey an idea. (Keep in mind that some icons have different cultural significance, so make sure the icon you choose works in your target market.)

3. Prioritize Marketing Content

Creating brand loyalty and referral programs is also important when there is a diverse market of travel companies for potential customers to choose from. Whether customers are accessing this content on desktop or mobile, marketing content is the value-add for your audience. While specific marketing content will vary by company, you should make sure to adapt and localize items such as the following:

Advertisements Blogs
Newsletters
Customer resources
Social media posts
Email
Banners Flyers
Press releases

As a general rule of thumb on or off mobile, you may also want to create a style guide to ensure consistency. This is especially important if you have a lot of content or multiple team localizing your various pieces and channels of content. Marketing strategies for travel companies should be careful to target different demographics and interest groups appropriately in all supported languages.

Note: Because marketing content often runs through different teams before being launched, it’s important to have a smooth localization workflow. A smooth workflow is one where there are no files that need to be sent back and forth, and it’s relatively easy to communicate with your translator.

Digitally Expand the International Presence of Your Travel Business

The bottom line: Companies at the heart of the travel industry – airlines, hotels, online booking and review sites – are required to become more global. It is because of this go-global mentality and growth, that localization of content (websites, apps, marketing messages, emails, etc.) will become a more critical part of growth and should be a pillar of a strong business.

Looking for some more actionable steps for taking your travel website global? Check out our #TravelLocalization series, built to equip everyone in your localization process – from developers to localization managers – with the knowledge and resources necessary for achieving translation and localization success. Explore the full series to learn everything you need to know for translation success:

Get The Complete Guide to Travel Localization

In today’s global world with rising rates of tourism and increased wanderlust amongst the generations with the highest purchasing power, it’s important to understand how to connect with your travel audiences across the world. Whether your travel, tourism, review or hospitality company does business overseas or strictly within your own borders, you can set yourself apart from competitors with effective localization. In our latest Travel & Hospitality Localization Guide, learn all the fundamentals of travel localization – from how to invest in it and critical elements to be aware of when marketing to multilingual audience, to how your travel company can effectively localize across websites, mobile apps, and other digital content.

Download the complete Travel & Hospitality Localization Guide today to learn how to take your travel-related company global.