News and Events

Nov 28, 2009 -

Tourism volunteers made a difference

Downtown Victoria Ambassadors assist a record 42,000 visitors

BY DARRON KLOSTER, TIMES COLONIST -  NOVEMBER 28, 2009

It wasn’t exactly a banner year for tourism, but it’s fair to say it might have been worse without the Downtown Victoria Ambassadors.

The smiling volunteers in red shirts and Tilley hats who hand out free maps and advice to tourists reported a record year for contact this past season.

The group says its 74 ambassadors assisted more than 42,000 tourists from mid-May until the end of September—up from the 29,000 they helped the previous season. They also logged more than 5,000 visits to a mobile kiosk at Yates and Government streets, more than four times the number in 2008.

The group is considered one of the valuable intangibles in tourism’s billion-dollar industry as they direct visitors to restaurants, attractions and historical points to spend money. And during a season beset by a global recession, organizers feel they made a difference this year.

The ambassador program, launched in 1993 by Doug and Heather Featherstone and later adopted by Tourism Victoria, was taken over this year by the Victoria Attractions Association, the group that has sponsored the Be A Tourist in Your Own Home Town promotion for the past 37 years.

“Our ability to mobilize ourselves to reach visitors on the streets can make a sizable difference in our operations,” said John Parker, general manager of Gray Line West. “When ambassadors can inform and motivate visitors to explore more and do more while in Victoria, we all win.”

The volunteers, ranging in age from 18 to 82, worked the streets in pairs seven days a week. There were 24 working two shifts every day. They credited their success in reaching so many to “old- fashioned enthusiasm and industry co-operation.”

Meanwhile, the Victoria Attractions Association elected its new board earlier this week. It includes chairman Alan McGillivray, Prince of Whales; vice-chair Jill Smillie, Oak Bay Marine Group; past-chair George Devlin, Miniature World; secretary Ken Lane, Royal London Wax Museum; and treasurer Alan Furness, Oceanside Gifts.

The committee chairs include Parker, in charge of Free Map of Victoria; David Roberts, Prince of Whales, in charge of Be a Tourist in your own Home Town; Sue Stackhouse, Royal B.C. Museum, in charge of the ambassadors; and Smillie with the marketing and public relations file.