Exploring emotional skills for transcreation: Proactivity as fostering creativity in digital promotional tourism transcreations

The main objective of this study is to contribute to research on transcreation in tourism discourse by reporting on a simulated master’s-level experiment to provide transcreators with a model to incorporate transversal skills or elements of Emotional Intelligence theory and practice into training (Hubscher-Davidson et al., 2021). To achieve this goal, this study discusses a framework, the Logical Levels model (Dilts, 1998; Katan, 2004), to model the behaviour of transcreators. Transcreators are involved in a network of socio-cultural and professional activities, arguably requiring a more collaborative view of society and a creative, conflict-resolving role in translation work. This has significant implications for the skills required to first deal with the rapid fragmentation of market demand and then to interact with other active parties involved in transcreation processes with the ultimate aim of accommodating the recipients’ needs. The decision to engage in transcreation in tourism discourse is primarily due to the ever-increasing demand for sincere, culturally sensitive communication with foreign visitors who prefer to interact with brands that address them in their native language (Common Sense Advisory, 2014). Embracing a neuro-linguistic programming standpoint (Bandler & Grinder, 1975; Katan, 2004), the analysis will show a correlation between a more pro-active behaviour and creative reformulations in the tourism industry.