Greeter Programmes
Greeter Programmes have been favourably mentioned in these pages occasionally over the years, the latest being in last month's Chicago story. This led me to do a little research and, after spending quite some time with my search engine and logging on to a number of city websites, I eventually found (nearly) all the information on the Toronto "TAP into TO!" site at www.toronto.ca/tapto. I didn't know Toronto had such a programme.
Yes, there is a Global Greeter Network: Adelaide and Melbourne (Australia), Cicerones de Buenos Aires (Brazil), Chicago, Houston and New York (USA), The Hague (the Netherlands), Lyon, Nantes and Paris (France) the County of Kent (England) and in Toronto. In most of these programmes, visitors can state their area of interest (architecture, gardens, history, shopping etc) and the organizers will try to match the visitor with a suitably qualified greeter. Often public transportation tickets are included in the arrangement.
Not part of this network, but offering a similar experience, is Jamaica's Meet-the-People Programme at www.visitjamaica.com and the People-to-People Programme in the Bahamas www.bahamas.com/bahamas/people-people. Tea with the Governor's wife is a feature of the latter, which has been mentioned in this magazine too.
Further research reminded me of Hong Kong's Meet the People Cultural Kaleidoscope www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/things-to-do/cultural-tours.html which offers a variety of talks, classes and activities - all free to visitors. Themes include museums, gardens, art and antiques, tea appreciation, feng shui, Chinese medicine and much more.
In Japan and Korea the service is known as 'Goodwill Guides'. Japan offers over 50 groups across the country, all with a roster of English-speaking guides. Some have pre-set walking itineraries for which you simply show up at a certain time and place, while others operate on a person-to-person basis.
Again the service is free, but again you will be expected to pick up the tab for coffee breaks and meals taken together. The Japan website is http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/essential/guideservice.html#volunteer and for Korea http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/GK/GK_EN_2_7_3_1.jsp
Not in the 'free' category, but interesting nonetheless, are four dining-with-the-people services that I discovered exist in Denmark, Holland, Finland and Wales. Read all about 'Dine with the Danes' at www.dinewiththedanes.dk/which has links to their sister programmes 'Dine with the Dutch' and 'Home Dinners in Wales'. And then there's www.cosyfinland.com.
Testimonials on all these sites attest to the pleasure so many visitors receive via these programmes. I can't add any personal stories at this stage, but I'm going to keep the information and will report to TTS when I experience one of these programmes. And if any readers know of any other locations that offer similar programmes I'm sure we'd all welcome the 'heads-up' so we can add to our list. Happy meetings and greetings!
Gary Davidson,
Barrie, ON
Oh wow, Gary, what a great list. Thank you so much for doing all that work. Yes, please let us hear from you if you enjoy one of the above programmes or can add to the list
- Ed.
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