VisitBrighton seeks volunteers to welcome tourists to Brighton & Hove Olympics- style!
The city’s official marketing body, VisitBrighton, is looking to harness some of London 2012’s sporting spirit by introducing its own band of on-street volunteers to provide information, help and advice to visitors. People with passion, knowledge and enthusiasm for Brighton & Hove are now being recruited to add to the city’s reputation as a friendly, welcoming and culturally vibrant city.
The volunteers will be provided with a branded uniform to make them easily recognisable and approachable and will be stationed at key locations throughout the city including the Royal Pavilion, the train station and along the seafront.
Their role will be to welcome visitors and offer help and advice about where to stay and what to see. They will be able to direct people to the nearest Visitor Information Point and provide maps as well as giving information about the latest events and attractions.
Recruits will need to commit to a minimum of six months at a time and be available to cover a variety of rota’d shifts including weekends. They will need to deal confidently with people of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities and have a friendly, helpful and patient attitude.
In return for their time, the volunteers will get the chance to develop new skills through ongoing training and at the end of their six month stint receive a certificate of recognition for their work. Other benefits include free admission into some of the city’s main tourism attractions and invitations to tourism related openings and events.
On-street guides are not new to Brighton; in the 50s a group of smartly dressed models, known as Prommettes, regularly patrolled the seafront at weekends offering advice and answering tourists’ questions, and VisitBrighton already runs a popular Greeter scheme, part of the Global Greeter Network, where volunteers take visitors around the city to show them their favourite places.
Brighton closed its main tourist information office late in 2013.
Geoffrey Bowden, chair of BHCC’s Economic Development & Culture Committee, says: “This is a great opportunity for people to get involved and share their passion for the city with visitors. The scheme runs successfully in other cities around the world and worked brilliantly in London during the 2012 Olympics where it was suggested the contribution of volunteers turned what would have been a good games into a ‘great’ games and a truly memorable experience for visitors.
“Our volunteers will be there to provide convenient on the spot assistance and give visitors to the city a proper Brighton welcome.”
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