Limerick’s pioneering Street Ambassadors have begun their third season of summer work with another great team of experienced roving tourist guides.

Limerick City led the way nationally three years ago by employing the first Street Ambassadors to welcome visitors and give them free information on the best places to visit, eat and shop.

The project spearheaded by the Limerick Co-ordination Office (LCO) helped over 18,000 visitors to Limerick in 2007–almost double the numbers the previous year.
The project has been so successful that Dublin City is now following Limerick by setting up its own Street Ambassador programme.

LCO Chairperson, Kay McGuinness, said she and the LCO team were “delighted” with the success of the Street Ambassadors programme over the past two years and “it is great to see Dublin now following Limerick’s lead”.

A survey conducted by the LCO last year found that, the Street Ambassadors helped visitors from 64 different countries, and the majority of these tourists thought the programme should be copied by every other Irish city, according to Ms Guinness.

“I am delighted to see that six of our experienced Street Ambassadors, including our Team Leader Jean Ryan, are returning to work with us again this summer–it will be of great benefit to our six new recruits,” Ms McGuinness added. 

The Limerick Street Ambassador programme was a pilot project funded by a European programme that has now ended.

This year it is being run with funding from both Shannon Development and the private sector in Limerick.

“We would like to thank Shannon Development and the private sector for supporting the Street Ambassador programme this year. But we still need more support from the private sector and any company interested in giving financial support to the programme can contact the Limerick Co-ordination Office,” Ms McGuinness said.

Eoghan Prendergast, Shannon Development’s Regional Development Manager for Limerick City said that Shannon Development were delighted to step in and ensure the Street Ambassadors would again be a feature on the streets of Limerick this summer.

This year’s group of Street Ambassadors range in age from 16 to over 65 and includes: students, retired people and the unemployed.

The 2008 Street Ambassador programme started on Monday and it will run for 10-weeks until September.

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