Speaking their language
More US travel agencies are specializing in non-English speaking clients, creating a need for companies such as M2 Travel & Hospitality. Yvan Hennecart told TravelMole:
“There’s been a push to cater to the non-English speaking market, which is huge.”
Multicultural and multilingual travelers represent one of the fastest growing areas of the industry, said Mr Hennecart, a senior account executive.
He cited statistics showing that international traveler spending in the US is expected to increase 5.5% in 2004, rising to more than $69 billion. That number is expected to be $75 billion in 2005.
M2 Travel provides globalization services for all branches of the travel industry, including translation services.
Mr Hennecart noted that several low-cost airlines such as Southwest and JetBlue are now offering other languages on their booking sites.
“The major airlines will hopefully follow, though they have a money problem,” he said.
He said one area of particular demand for non-English language speakers is the Korean market.
“The last statistic I saw was that 47% of the Koreans in the US had high educational levels,” he said.
Not all those Koreans speak English, he added. “But there’s a demand from them — both for traveling back to Korea, and for travel throughout the US,’” he said.
“I’ve seen some travel agents begin to look to gain some share of that market. There’s definitely a market” for all non-English travelers, he added.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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