Tourism volunteers wanted to greet visitors

Further to Tourism St Andrews’s appeal through the Citizen for volunteers to Meet and Greet coach visitors to the town, a number of St Andreans have come forward to help give visitors a good welcome and assist in ensuring their visit to St Andrews is fabulous.

Linda Anne Beaulier, from Tourism St Andrews, explained: “We want to be able to offer a service to visitors so they can make the most of their often short visit to the town.

“To also ensure they have a great experience from the moment they get off the coach and are pointed in the right direction to suit their interests whether that’s golf, heritage, shopping or food and drink.”

She added:“This will hopefully ensure our visitors make it to the shops and other points of interest within the town.”

The group estimates that around 30 tour buses with visitors from across the world arrive in the town each day during the summer – and those tourists need some direction.

Volunteers can give as little as two hours a week to the project and will receive training. With the support of Fife Council the volunteers will receive World Host destination training tailored to meet St Andrews requirements.

Working with BID St Andrews the signage will be improved using technology to be multi lingual and Tourism St Andrews are currently in discussions with Fife Council to improve the toilet facility at this location and make it more accessible to our visitors.

During busy days a stand will be put up outside the Golf Museum and there will be opportunity for businesses in the town to give us offers and vouchers to hand out to the visitors.

The volunteers all have an interest in St Andrews and in Scotland, many of them will have unique tales to tell which is something visitors will not forget.

Volunteer John Blackcommented: “ I think this is a great initiative, so often we see tourists wandering along as they do not have enough basic information about the town.

“Hopefully, through this effort we can enhance their visitor experience during their time with us. 

“It could mean that they will come back for a longer stay next time!”

Any other interested volunteers should contact Linda Anne Beaulier of Tourism St Andrews at [email protected].