Lost in Translation No More

International visitors to Cairns and the Tropical North will no longer be lost in translation with the introduction by Down Under Tours of a new, state of the art, GPS multilingual interpretive guiding system.

For Tropical North Queensland's inbound tourism, this development by the region's leading coach touring operator is good news as it looks to significantly improve the way visitors will experience the destination.

According to Down Under Tours Director, James Dixon, his company's new, GPS activated multilingual technology is an Australian first using a Patented product and is set to revolutionise the way non-English speaking visitors will experience and enjoy Tropical North Queensland.

“Up until now we have not been able to offer non-English speakers with a precise commentary on our Cape Tribulation and Tablelands tours. In an effort to maintain our professionalism at all costs, we made the decision not to offer any manual translation services on our tours that we could not manage or quality control. Instead we embarked on a mission to find the perfect solution and eventually did so in New Zealand with a company called Kruse Go. At a significant investment to Down Under Tours we began the journey of creating automated, GPS activated commentary in six languages – Chinese, Japanese, Italian, German, French and Spanish.”

According to James the beauty of this product is its accuracy – within 500 mm of a particular landmark or point of interest as well as the fact that it can be operated manually outside the vehicle when visitors are participating in such activities as the Daintree River Cruise for example. Add to this, it is available seven days a week.

“Apart from being simultaneous in its delivery using earphones, the commentary is also lively and interesting and includes a series of hero stories complete with sound effects. Take the Battle of the Coral Sea or arrival of Captain Cook for instance.”

Mr Dixon said that along with this new technology the company has expanded its interpretive products further with the development and introduction of written translation in all Kuranda Boarding Pass documentation.

“For those passengers that participate in our self-guided Kuranda tour, we have produced special interpretive brochures and maps in the same six languages. These are designed to provide an informative and educational insight into the various elements and highlights of the tour. At the end of the day, it is all about giving our guests the best experience we possibly can.”

For more information, visit www.downundertours.com