Erie County residents now can become certified advocates in the promotion of local tourism, thanks to a new effort by Visit Buffalo.
The Certified Tourism Ambassador program is a national initiative for residents to promote tourism within their communities.
It helps to be aware of what Buffalo and Erie County have to offer, Westin Hotel General Manager Tom Long said. But the new program takes it further by identifying overlooked spots in the city, and also notable locations across Western New York, like in Letchworth State Park or Niagara County.
“It's tough because, again, it's not one person has all this knowledge of it," he said. "Having a resource like (Visit Buffalo) that can come in and train us and provide all this information is tremendous.”
Getting local buy-in is important because employees at hotels, restaurants and other businesses are the ones who will be interacting directly with visitors, Visit Buffalo CEO Patrick Kaler said.
“We get them here through our efforts at Visit Buffalo, but when they get to actually interact with the locals to find out, ‘what is a local place that you like to go to for wings or dinner or drink?’" he said. "And it may not be those first, top things that come to mind, but it gets you a little bit deeper into the community.”
The program has around 30 people who took the half-day class earlier this week, and Kaler is looking keep expanding that number quickly.
