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Oban’s international holiday e-marketing tips have been published in the Retail Bulletin and on the Canadian Marketing Association blog. Here is the original article all its glory.

Christmas is one of the most celebrated holidays in the world. But not everyone celebrates it in the same way. Indeed, not everyone celebrates it at all.

Internet sales in the upcoming holiday season have been predicted to grow about eight percent. While the number is low compared to last year’s 19 percent holiday season growth, it still looks better than the mere one percent sales growth expected in physical department stores.

With overseas online markets growing at an incredibly rapid pace, they deserve special attention. Brazilians, for example, have become some of the most active online shoppers in the world. In addition, last year saw 147 million Chinese buy products and services online, a number representing more than the total population of all but the world’s seven most populous countries. In less than two years, this number is projected triple. Add on to this e-sales figures in Russia, which doubled in 2007 to hit nearly £2 billion. (more…)

Prominent web reporter Christopher Elliott recently blogged about Oban’s research finding. His interpretation of Oban’s report sparked off debate about the question of discrimination towards non-English speakers on the World Wide Web. Read the post.

We want to know what you think! Our friends at Poll the People have set up a poll for you to voice your thoughts on the debate.

The question:

Do travel websites discriminate against non-English users?

Spanish: ¿Discriminan las páginas web de viajes a los usuarios de habla no inglesa?

German: Diskriminieren Reise-Webseiten nicht-englisch-sprechende Internetnutzer?

French: Les sites de voyage discriminent-ils les utilisateurs non-anglophones?

Chinese: 旅遊網站是否其是非英語使用者?

Czech: Myslíte si, že stránky o cestování diskriminují uživatele, kteří nemluví anglicky?

Slovak: Diskriminujú webové stránky o cestovaní tých užívateľov, ktorých rodným jazykom nie je angličtina?

Romanian: Este adevărat că site-urile româneşti discriminează nevorbitorii de limbă engleză?

Farsi:

آیا وبسایتهای سفر آنلاین نسبت به کاربران غیر انگلیسی زبان تبعیض قائل میشوند؟

Vote now:

International online customers say they are often forced to search in English

Travel sites do not cater to their international users. This was the finding of the www.obanmultilingual.com short documentary on international travel search behaviour.

In making the video, the Oban team travelled to London where they interviewed holidaymakers from over 40 countries. The interviewees were asked how they used the internet to research their trip to London.

The Oban team was surprised by their findings.

“What we had expected,” says Greig Holbrook, Oban’s managing director, “was that the travellers would say that they search in their native language. But instead, most of them admitted they were forced to search in English, since the travel sites often do not give them a multilingual option.” (more…)

Oban Multilingual and EyeforTravel have rounded up the results from their online travel competition survey and found some interesting trends emerging in online Chinese search behaviour.

Results showed that Chinese internet users don’t use Google very often. In fact, none of the Chinese respondents chose Google as their favoured travel search portal. (more…)

The Face of Global Search competition reveals interesting data

Travel sites take note: there is much more to the international online travel market than Google. The results from Oban and EyeforTravel’s online travel competition show that international internet surfers are expanding their search horizons to sites that give them more international usability, more options, ease of use, and of course, traveller reviews.

The Face of Global Search competition had entrants play a flash game in which they answered questions about their online travel search behaviour before advancing to the next level. (more…)

Only six days left in Oban’s Face of Global Search competition

Every 15^th player to play the Face of Global Search game will win a bottle of champagne in addition to being entered into the original prize draw.

But hurry – there’s only six days left to throw your virtual suitcase around.

The game has players attempt to toss their suitcase to a portal which transports them to the next level in another part of the world.

Players are eligible to win either £150 or £100 worth of travel vouchers just for playing. Those who finish the game are eligible for the big prize – £250 worth of travel vouchers.

During the game, players are asked multiple choice questions about how they use the internet to book their holidays.

Those who are curious about what Oban has discovered as its database of answers matures should check out the video that they put together at the game’s website: www.faceofglobalsearch.com.

The competition ends July 23^rd.

Ten days left in the Face of Global Search competition

Hurry up and get your game on. There’s only two weeks left to throw your virtual suitcase around in Oban’s flash competition game.

The game has players attempt to toss their suitcase to a portal which transports them to the next level in another part of the world.

Players are eligible to win either £150 or £100 worth of travel vouchers just for playing. Those who finish the game are eligible for the big prize – £250 worth of travel vouchers.

During the game, players are asked multiple choice questions about how they use the internet to book their holidays.

Those who are curious about what Oban has discovered as its database of answers matures should check out the video that they put together at the game’s website: www.faceofglobalsearch.com.

The competition ends July 23rd.

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Kaila Krayewski
April 15, 2008
Tel.: 01273 704434
Mobile: 079 385 66952
E-mail: Kaila@obanmultilingual.com
www.obanmultilingual.com

DANGLISH

How this unique language can improve your business

Danish sporting apparel company, Hummel International, wants a ‘Danglish’ website. They have enlisted OBAN Multilingual, an international search engine optimisation company, to do the job.

They are among the many companies realising that cultural differences are key when targeting specific regions. (more…)

PRESS RELEASE
April 11, 2008
Contact: Kaila Krayewski
Tel.: 01273 704434
Mobile: 079 385 66952
E-mail: Kaila@obanmultilingual.com
www.obanmultilingual.com

The many faces of English

UK and US English target different markets

It is obvious that a UK-based website targeting French people should be available in French. It may be less obvious, however, that a UK-based website targeting Americans should be converted into American English.

Is there much of a difference between the two Englishes? (more…)

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Kaila Krayewski
April 9, 2008
Tel.: 01273 704434
Mobile: 079 385 66952
E-mail: Kaila@obanmultilingual.com
www.obanmultilingual.com

East Midlands in any other language

The Irish Times recently reported that Brighton-based business Oban Multilingual is providing international optimisation services for the Danish Tourism website. But the Danes aren’t the only ones making use of multilingual search engine optimisation to promote their region to other cultures.

The East Midlands Tourism’s international websites have been optimised in four languages: German, French, Dutch and Spanish. Traffic to the Spanish and Dutch versions of the website was up nearly 30 percent last month. (more…)