How Communication Adapts to Digital Habits

The language of tourism is constantly changing, so the topic of verbal communication in tourism is always relevant.

One current trend is for hotels and destinations to increasingly address their guests as "you" on websites and social networks in order to create a closer relationship with users. The key is to find the right tone for the desired target groups. For example, addressing young guests and families as "you" has an authentic effect, but is not suitable for the cultural sector.In addition, tourist texts are getting shorter, they contain simpler sentences, and the tone of voice is getting closer to spoken language. Some of the reasons for this linguistic change are related to technological developments. Today, most texts are read on smartphones. Here, information needs to be compact and quick to grasp, as users do not want to spend a long time scrolling to find the content they want. In addition, language is influenced by the casual and personal communication on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Emotions, SEO, and Cross-Channel Communication

Changes can also be observed in the print sector for travel guides, press releases or newspaper articles. This is because many print texts are also published online and therefore need to be SEO-optimized. At the same time, texts in all areas are becoming more emotional, which is related to the growing importance of storytelling. "For some years now, we've been less concerned with conveying lots of facts and more concerned with telling stories - and we've definitely become more emotional in the process," says Rainer Eisenschmid, editor-in-chief of the long-established Baedeker travel guides.German PR expert and lecturer Petra van Laak recommends choosing the tone of voice that best suits your target group and using it consistently across all communication channels. There may well be differences between the different channels, such as very casual communication on Facebook and a more formal approach in emails. However, the company should always be recognizable through its use of language.