Fluency in English for tourism marketing

The importance of mastering the English language in business and commercial situations goes back centuries. Since 1726, American writers like Daniel Defoe (1) stressed the importance of understanding and being able to use the English language for communication purposes in commercial settings and when negotiating.

In the tourism sector, the improvement and adaptation of study programs represent an adequate response to the increasingly competitive demands in the same way that it constitutes a decisive instrument so that professionals in the tourism sector can effectively face new professional challenges in the area. of Public Relations and Marketing of the tourist product in correspondence with the new trends of tourism today, which not only wants sun and sand and is not passive but also needs to receive exchange and interaction with all the options offered by the destination.

The effective communicative competence in the English language is a necessity for the performance of tourism professionals in their different work environments; However, public relations workers and commercial workers still have limitations in the command of the English language that affect effective communication for the execution of an excellent service.

The communicative approach starts from theories that see the language as an instrument of communication where the student must achieve the linguistic competence identified in four dimensions: Grammatical competence, Sociolinguistic competence, Discursive competence and Strategic competence (Van EK 1976)

All these competences are essential for the performance of professionals in the commercialization of the tourist product and the PR and the proposals of our work have been based on the conceptions on the educational development of important Cuban specialists about the teaching of English for Purposes. Specific with an interdisciplinary approach, hence the need to teach professionals in this specific area of ​​the Tourism Industry the specialized lexicon of business language and marketing.

Estos elementos, así como la importancia que tiene el turismo como actividad y fuente de ingreso y de empleos en nuestro país justifican el diseño de las acciones de capacitación que diseñamos y hemos aplicado en idioma inglés a los profesionales vinculados a las actividades de comercialización, comunicación y ventas que les permiten accionar con los mercados y entornos turísticos con eficacia a partir de la utilización del idioma de forma efectiva y las damos a conocer a través del desarrollo de una campaña de comunicación de RRPP que ha tenido como objetivos:

• Demonstrate the need for public and commercial relations professionals to communicate orally and in writing effectively in the English language to offer an excellent service. Contribute to the improvement of the skills and specialized language in English of public and commercial relations officers through of a training action system. Communicate the training action plan to Hotel Chains and Travel Agencies through different communication channels: email and promotional brochure.

DEVELOPING:

Starting from the Mission of our Hospitality and Tourism school, which is none other than to train practicing workers and the training of future tourism professionals, and in particular that of the Department of Languages, which is to provide high-quality services of Language training for HR that contributes to consolidating a tourist culture with ethical and moral values ​​of a high professional level. Our school has been making a great effort and has taken important steps in the training of communicators such as: Public and Commercial Relations in exercises. In 2009,A survey was carried out that of 58 people who worked as Public Relations or Commercial Directors only 18 approved the diagnosis that was an essential requirement to enroll in the specialized course for commercials and PR designed by a national group of authors in which one of the authors participated. It is valid to point out that the 58 people were not diagnosed due to lack of communication from the companies' trainers.

Once enrolled in the course, the permanence and systematization of assistance was high, which showed a real level of satisfaction. The course was very effective and demonstrated the need to learn English for professional purposes in this area, although twelve graduated from this first version in 2010; Of these, seven with a score of 5 points and five with 4 points, the non-graduates were due to occupational causes. In 2011, 10 graduated, three of them obtained 3 points and the rest obtained 4 and 5 points. A satisfaction survey was applied to graduates that yielded the following results (Annexes 1 and 2).In addition to transmitting the word-of-mouth communication of the graduates with other colleagues, it gave credibility to the course, which not only included teaching hours but also fostered the development of real situations in the workplace through which the trainees learned by doing it.. All this led to redesigning the program and raising its level to postgraduate. In addition, within the project we conceived postgraduate training for skills and a diploma project for the coming years, since despite the fact that both public and commercial relations professionals are not They have academic training in the English language. In 2012, a postgraduate business language training was given that gave 2 credits to the two graduates who obtained a 4-point evaluation.Unfortunately, due to communication problems, not all commercials enrolled in the course and there is still a percentage that lacks knowledge and is not benefiting, which affects tourism and income to the country.

The Ministry of Tourism, in accordance with the guidelines of the VI party congress and the established strategy for the development and improvement of the language training of the MINTUR system, applied a language diagnosis to all workers in contact with the client in 2012 and among them, of course, the area that concerns us, yielding the following results: Of 59 diagnosed, the communicative competence of 22 was HIGH, 18 was MEDIUM, 5 was LOW and 14 was NULL. This corroborates that a high percent of these workers do not have the high competence as required by their job. It is worth remembering that the majority of those diagnosed who obtained ELEVADA and MEDIA are the product of the training provided above.

Two workshops have been developed to publicize the training needs in the area of ​​Public and Commercial Relations and also to publicize the proposals for training actions of the group of teachers who attend this work, applying participatory techniques and instruments such as: Surveys and Brainstorming. For this, we rely on the Department of Public Relations and involve trainers from the Islazul, Greater Caribbean, Cubanacán and Travel Agencies of Cubanacán and Gaviota. (Annexes 3, 4 and 5)

We consider that this Public Relations Campaign has been the most effective way to achieve the results that we hope since Public Relations is the fostering of relationships, communication and goodwill between the company, other people and certain publics or the community in general. Therefore, we involve the Board of Directors of Hotel Facilities and Travel Agencies and the Workers of the Facilities as internal public; as well as external audiences that have supported us as the Territorial Delegation of MINTUR.

Our proposal has been a permanent Campaign since it includes the work outlined for the validity of a Plan with a stable development that allows knowing the resources that will be necessary for its long-term achievements. (Annex 6)

Para el diseño de nuestra Campaña tuvimos en cuenta la promoción mezclada que es la herramienta que combina una organización para lograr los objetivos de una campaña de comunicación. Estos objetivos incluyen la transmisión del mensaje a tantas personas como sea posible, asegurándose de que las mismas comprendan el mensaje y estimulen la toma de la acción deseada. Proponemos un mensaje en soporte digital (l correo electrónico dirigido al Consejo de Dirección de todas las instalaciones; incluyendo AAVV y por supuesto dirigido a los Departamentos de RRPP y/o Comercialización del producto turístico) (Anexo 7) y además un díptico adjunto al correo para dar a conocer los beneficios de la convocatoria de postgrado y entrenamiento de postgrado. (Anexo 8).

The strategy and the applied actions have been evaluated through the observation of the foreign-commercial-public-relations relations client interactions in the jobs through the partial and final evaluations which serve as feedback for the improvement of future actions.

The implementation of the PR campaign guarantees effective communication to all audiences through the planned channels.

CONCLUSIONS

1. The majority of tourism product marketing and public relations workers do not have academic training in the language and still have limitations in language skills and specialized vocabulary, which negatively affects their comprehensive professional level and effectiveness. of communication. The need to apply a system of training actions aimed at the integration of the four basic skills in English and the lexicon for professional purposes to workers in the commercial area and the PR that contribute to establishing effective communication was demonstrated. with the foreign client. The need to design a PR Campaign to communicate the actions to internal and external audiences through different channels was demonstrated.The effective communication with the native English-speaking client or the one who uses English as the lingua franca by the commercials and PR strengthens the disclosure of Cuban national identity and the success of the intercultural relationship as well as an appropriate commercialization of the tourist product.

Bibliography.

1. Administrative Writing. Memos and Letters. Greg Larocque et al. Bertha J. Naterop, Erich Weis, Eva Haberfellnes: Business letters for all. Bowen, Tim: Build Up Your Business Grammar, LTP Business, England, 1997, 96 pp. Brieger, Nick and J. Comfort: Early Business Contacts, Prentice Hall International English Language, UK, 1994, 153 ppComfort, Jeremy: Effective Meetings. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1996, 87 pp--: Effective Presentations. Oxford University Press, Spain, 1995, 80 pp--: Effective Telephoning. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1996, 110 ppEmerson, Paul and Nick Hamilton: Five-Minute Activities for Business English, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2005, 112 ppFlower, John and Ron and Ron Martínez: American Business Vocabulary, LTP, England, 1995, 96 ppGoodale, Malcom: The Language of Meetings, LTP Business, England, 1987, 128 pp. Greg, Larocque and Others: Administrative Writing. Memos and Letters. Hacker, Diana: A Canadian Pocket Style Manual, Nelson Canada, 1995, 139 pphttp: //es.wikipedia.org/wiki/PragmaticRae Perigoe, Lillian Perigoe: Message and Meaning.Laroque, Greg: Administrative Writing, English Program Development Division, Canada, 1986, 144 pp Lorenzo, Mercedes: Basic Business English Course, Institute of Foreign Trade, MINCEX, 2003, 124 pp Mackenzie, Ian:Management and Marketing, LTP, England, 1997, 144 pp Mawer, Jenny: Business Games, LTP, England, 1992, 80 ppMichael, Crispin and others: English for all. Corespondencia Comercial, Ediciones Larousse, México, 1981, 240 pp Morrison, John: Busines Language Practice, LTP, England, 1994, 120 ppNaterop, Bertha J.et. to the.: Business letters for all, Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1977, 163 pp Oxford University Press Really Learn 100 Phrasal Verbs for Business, Spain, 2005, 110 pp Perigoe, J. Rae and Lilian Perigoe: Message and Meaning, Prentice Hall, Canada, 1974, 251 ppSharma, Peter and others: in company, Upper intermediate Teacher's Book, MACMILLAN, Spain, 2005, 185 ppWalker, Robin and Keith Harding: Tourism 1, Teacher's Resource Book, Oxford University Press, 2006, 96 ppWalker, Robin and Keith Harding: Tourism 2, Teacher's Resource Book, Oxford University Press, 2007, 95 pp

Basic bibliography:

Compendium of materials in English for the tourism product marketing area, September 2009.

Further reading:

1. Richards, Jack C. Interchange II, Teacher´s Book, Cambridge University Press, UK, 1995Warshawsky, Diane and others: Spectrum 3, Student´s Book, Revolutionary Edition, La Habana, SOD, 136 pp.

Appendix 1

Satisfaction survey

1. Please rate the improvement of the English language skills acquired by you in the course in:

• Very good ___________Good ___________Regular ___________Bad __________

1. He increased his knowledge of the specialized lexicon of the commercial area and PR.

• If not ______

1. How would you rate the aspects detailed below?

Aspects	Excellent	Very good	Good	Regular	Wrong
a) Choice of topics developed in class.
b) Quality of the materials used during the course.
c) Quality of practical activities carried out in the company.
d) Work of the teacher during the course.

Appendix 2

Results of the Satisfaction Survey

The survey was applied to graduates.

Qualification of Question 1	Number of students per grade.
MB	fifteen
B	4
R	3
M	0

Qualification of Question 2		Number of students.
Yes	22
Not	0

Score of question 3 by subsections
Subsections	AND	MB	B	R	M
TO)	twenty	two
B)		22
C)	22
D)	22

Annex 3

Commercial Course Graduate Survey Consider the results you achieved after passing the Commercial Course.

1. What languages ​​do you use most frequently?

Mark with a number from 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest priority, the languages ​​that you consider most used

• English ________ French _______ Italian _______ German _______ Russian_________

2. The ease with which it resolved the Commercial matters related to the sale of the tourist product, mark from 1 to 5, with 1 being the priority

• Site Inspections__________Meetings with foreign tour operators ________ Presentation of tourist products with fam groups________ Nature tours _________ Drafting of commercial letters__________

3. Point out how positive this period has been

• _________________

4. Point out the most interesting thing that has happened in this period

• _________________

5. Other comments

• __________________________________

Annex 4

Result of the survey applied to graduates.

1. The language of highest priority and most used by the 22 respondents is English.

1. 22 answer 1,2 and 3/20 answer 4 and 5

1. They have been able to conduct effective meetings with TTOO, site inspections, PR action plan, product promotion.

1. Write business letters and emails.

5. They have continued studying with the materials they received in the course and feeding back their knowledge, they have applied the knowledge in their business interactions with clients.

6. They need more postgraduate courses to perfect pronunciation and writing and style in the language.

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