The popular meet, greet and roaming information service will now be delivered by Visit Cambridge on behalf of Cambridge Business Improvement District (BID), who continue to fund the initiative.
The new service will include doubling the number of Ambassadors on the street to better service peak season custom. During the Summer season, from April to September, the number of Ambassadors will increase from four to eight, ensuring a heightened presence at the train station, one of the key gateways to the city, at a time it’s needed most.
The joint venture, at the start of Cambridge BID’s second five-year term, heralds a new closer working relationship between the two organisations, who have a shared focus on creating a world class experience for all who visit, live and work in Cambridge, a global city.
Ian Sandison, Chairman of Cambridge BID, explains: “During our business consultation process in 2017, businesses told us they wanted the Ambassador service to continue and ideally grow in the summer months.
“We pledged to develop a unified visitor welcome with Visit Cambridge and this change will result in a 20 per cent increase in Ambassador coverage for a small increase in budget, delivering greater value for BID levy payers.”
Emma Thornton, CEO of Visit Cambridge, adds: “Visit Cambridge’s purpose is to grow the value of the visitor economy by promoting Cambridge and the surrounding area and providing the best possible visitor experience. Welcoming visitors to Cambridge is what we do best, and we are delighted at this opportunity to extend our visitor welcome across the city centre and to key gateways in addition to the welcome we already provide at our Visitor Information Centre on Peas Hill.”
Come rain or shine, the Ambassadors are on duty 363 days a year, each covering an average of 10 miles a day as they traverse the city centre providing guidance as well as a friendly face. Over the last five years, they have greeted and assisted more than 250,000 visitors to Cambridge, keeping up-to-the minute records of every encounter to monitor who is coming to our city and why. This useful information is then fed back to local businesses.
As well as providing a bespoke business liaison service for Cambridge BID, the Ambassadors additionally record environmental issues such as broken street lights, benches or paving slabs, sending the reports directly to the city council and keeping abreast of them until they are fixed.
Visit Cambridge is looking to recruit four new Ambassadors to join the expanding team with ads already running on recruitment websites, Total Jobs and Indeed. The ideal candidate would have previous experience in a customer-facing role, a great knowledge of Cambridge and be committed to delivering the highest level of customer service possible.