Art cities recruit cabbies as tourism ambassadors
Taxi drivers in the art cities of Flanders – Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Mechelen and Leuven – will receive training to become “tourism ambassadors” to exploit their contact with visitors in the promotion of their city’s attractions.
Taxi drivers, carriage drivers and boat tour operators are often the first contact tourists have with a new city, and the non-profit organisation Kunststeden Vlaanderen aims to use that access to make a good first impression. Flemish tourism minister Geert Bourgeois agrees and has approved funding of €305,000.
“Tourism is a very important source of income for the cities,” pointed out a spokesman for Bourgeois. “The first acquaintance with a city often takes place on the back seat of a taxi, and since first impressions are so important, we’d like to include these people in the information machine.”
