Intercultural Communication In Tourism And Tourism

In Europe, the learning of foreign languages in the 21st century forms an important part of the educational process. Today, many organizations do business in foreign countries and therefore a sound knowledge of a foreign language is perceived as important. This is especially significant for the tourism and travel sectors (Ghany and Latif, 2012). Knowing and communicating in two or more languages is described by (Cook, 1995) as multilingualism. This essential individual asset is seen by management as an important aspect of employee skills and knowledge, which is necessary for the business environment. The learning of foreign languages is strongly supported by the European Union (EU) which states that the understanding of a foreign language

If employees are motivated and they are confident of themselves in the workplace, they will assist the organization to become more successful. Thus, it is vital that if the tourism industry is to survive in a very competitive global environment, it needs to offer training opportunities by which employees can increase foreign language experience and proficiency. The encouragement of intercultural communication in the tourism and hospitality sector is considered significant because it allows employees to effectively communicate with tourists who speak different languages and come from different cultures (Zangnari, 2009). When individuals learn a foreign language, they need to become aware of the language’s culture and this is described by Temizkan and Temizkan (2014) as intercultural competence which can be taught during intercultural training sessions. It is thus apparent that the knowledge and skills gained during the learning of a foreign language are essential factors in the improvement of services offered by the tourism and hospitality industry. Thitthongkam and Walsh (2011) argue that employees in the industry not only have to learn foreign languages but they also need to gain cultural knowledge of the foreign language because these two aspects have to be used at the same time. An example of this in the industry is that employees can learn the Russian language but they may find it difficult to communicate with the customers if they do not have a thorough knowledge of the Russian culture. As the tourist and hospitality is service based, language and cultural knowledge results in satisfied customers (Xie, 2016). Even more important for employees is to learn the terminology used in the industry and use it effectively in the foreign language. In this situation, the learning of a foreign