Cambridge Edition August 2019

ADVERT I SEMENT F EATURE

AN ESTIMATED EIGHT MILLION PEOPLE VISIT CAMBRIDGE EACH YEAR TO ENJOY ITS MANY CHARMS. ENHANCING THEIR TRIPS ARE THE LOVE CAMBRIDGE AMBASSADORS: A TEAM OF SIX PROFESSIONALS TASKED WITH WELCOMING, HELPING, ADVISING AND GUIDING VISITORS TO THE CITY CENTRE. YOU'LL RECOGNISE THEM FROM THEIR BRIGHT BLUE TIES, WAISTCOATS AND HATS. TA J KHAN, AMBASSADOR SUPERVISOR, TELLS US MORE WHO ARE THE AMBASSADORS? We are at the forefront of welcoming and imparting local knowledge to the visitors of Cambridge to help them navigate and enjoy the cityscape – giving them advice to help make the most of their time in Cambridge. Our ambassadors are a diverse, multilingual team trained in communication and customer services, and we work all year round, giving out free maps and making the city as accessible and enjoyable as possible for visitors and locals. WHAT’S THE JOB LIKE? We ambassadors are part of the vibrant street life in Cambridge. Apart from knowledge about the best spots to visit, we are aware of which events are happening and always know about new offers and openings, sales that are going on and which creative and education projects people can participate in. Perhaps we could call ourselves (human) walkingpedias for Cambridge! Our multilingual ambassadors speak dozens of languages between them, making visitors from around the globe to feel at ease and safe while exploring the city. Yes, these days people have Google at their fingertips, but people prefer and need that vital human interaction to connect when they arrive in a city – no machine can replace that. HOW MANY PEOPLE DO THE CITY AMBASSADORS TALK TO? On an average day, one ambassador interacts with 70 people – on a busy weekend day, it could be 120. In 2018 alone, we interacted with 59,248 people on the streets. People love engaging with us once they realise we are not selling anything and we’re just here to help! An interaction may be a quick enquiry, or it may last 20 minutes with one group or a person. It all depends on what people are looking for and how much information they want. DO YOU HAVE OTHER TASKS BESIDE VISITOR ENGAGEMENT IN THE CITY? The second stream of our work is liaising with businesses in the BID zones. We regularly visit and interact with all business in the town, and it’s very important for us to know what services, products, events, festivals and activities are taking place in Cambridge, so we can inform potential customers or visitors about these services. In 2018, the ambassadors logged in 4,087 business visits, and we’ve been instrumental in promoting BID initiatives like the Love Cambridge gift card and Independents’ Week. We also support the council’s work in keeping the area safe and clean by sending out info on unattended commercial waste, illegal graffiti and broken paving slabs that could cause safety hazards to people, plus reporting things like antisocial behaviour to the authorities. HOW MUCH GROUND DO YOU COVER EACH DAY? Mobility is our speciality! Each ambassador walks seven to nine miles each day – meaning that in the last six years we’ve covered around 80,600 miles! We can call this going the extra mile to deliver our friendly and approachable service to the visitors of the city. GET TO KNOW THE CITY AMBASSADORS

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