Cambridge Tourist Information Centre has new life as independent business
Shut during the pandemic, seemingly for good, the Cambridge Tourist Information Centre has since been revived as an independent local business by the very enthusiastic and dedicated Taj Khan Kalash.
In an era where local government-supported tourist information centres have largely vanished due to economic challenges, and replaced by information online, these centres are now becoming less common in UK towns and cities.
“Our very own Cambridge Tourist Information Centre fell victim to this trend and closed in 2020, blaming the pandemic,” explains Taj, who moved to the city in 2017 and started working for the Cambridge BID as city ambassador.
He was previously a tour guide in Greece and in the remote Hindu Kush mountain range in north Pakistan, where his ancestral home in the Kalash Valley is located.
“As a city guide, when tourism returned, I frequently encountered the disappointment of both local and international tourists who found online resources inadequate,” says Taj, “leaving out sections of society not using the internet, and concern about the misinformation and personal data and tourism pushed only to sell.
“They lamented the absence of a dedicated tourist centre in such a heritage-rich town.
“Inspired by their feedback and with the support of one local independent business, Giles & Co, I decided to revive this invaluable service.”
Taj continues: “My vision was to create an authentic Cambridge experience, offering a warm welcome in a setting reminiscent of an old courtroom, filled with Cambridge books, a touch of a professor’s study, a chaplain’s nook with a piano, wood-panelled walls, old desks, and a porter’s lodge feel complete with traditional bowler hats.
“To my delight, we witnessed thousands of visitors seeking in-person information, collecting flyers, and receiving tailored advice.”
Since reopening at the Guildhall in Peas Hill in September 2023, the independent tourist office has had more than 25,000 visitors, who have required assistance with practical information about, among other things, toilets, parking, pubs, dining recommendations and cultural activities.
“Our dedication has resulted in nearly 200 five-star reviews on Google,” notes Taj, who says his aim is to make people’s visit to Cambridge “a memorable pilgrimage”.
“This experiment of reviving the tourist office shows that it’s an essential part of the Cambridge visitor experience.
“A physical tourist office serves as a hub for authentic cultural engagement, local history, storytelling, cultural exchange, and addressing the concerns of both locals and visitors.
“It has also become a place where lost items are reunited with their owners, further embedding the tourist office in the community fabric.”
Taj says he was previously told that a tourist information centre is a “non-essential” service and that they are “economically non-viable” – statements with which he vehemently disagrees.
“The reason I opened the tourist office was because every day visitors were asking the same thing – to provide them with a full interpretation of the city and what it has to offer with a guide map,” he observes. “They wanted to go inside a tourist office and feel welcomed.
“So, I decided that this is what visitors really need, and I could provide that service. I resigned from my post of cycling city ambassador and then opened the Tourist Information Centre on 15 September last year.”
Taj believes that tourism is “inherently a social experience – and this means that people need more social spaces to engage”.
He notes that the DMOs (destination management organisations) that promote the city to visitors understandably want visitors to stay longer when they visit, but he asks: “If there are no visitor interaction venues, and visitors are not talking to local guides, how can they stay longer by just looking at the internet?
“So, the experiment of running this place for one year shows that there is a huge demand for in-person information and local cultural experiences.
“I’ve just had people come in here to ask for recommendations where to eat. Even though they can find this information online, they really want the experienced local knowledge – and that’s what I have and that’s what I’m giving. There’s nothing quite like that.”
Taj estimates that the Cambridge Tourist Information Centre has contributed “around £136,000-£140,000” to the city’s economy over the past year.
“The message that I want to get across is that it can only work if Cambridge businesses support it through a membership fee, as the city council has no plans or funds for supporting a tourist centre,” says Taj, who adds that that £136,000-140,000 goes “directly to the businesses – like punting, walking tours, and the sightseeing bus” and that the centre “needs more hospitality and restaurant businesses to come on board”.
He reveals that the centre also promotes walking and cycling in the city, as well as Mill Road’s independent food scene and pubs in places as far afield as Grantchester and Chesterton – among other things.
“I’ve taken a pay cut to do this because I love it,” concludes Taj, who did a social enterprise course at Allia Future Business Centre prior to taking over the centre.
“And I’m also invested in the city very much, because not only has it been seven years [since I started working here], I’m also doing the Green Badge Guide course, in order to have more substantial, in-depth knowledge of the history of the city and university to provide valuable heritage interpretation to the visitors.
“I speak about seven languages so that gives me a lot of ground to talk to many different people from many countries.”
Looking ahead to the future, Taj wants local artists and authors to bring their products to the centre.
“We have five local authors that have brought their books here – we’re selling them,” he notes.
“We’re trying to make it so when people visit Cambridge, they are taking something which was made in Cambridge, or which was produced in Cambridge – that’s one of our goals.
“The second of our goals is that we want to support a lot of independent businesses – not just in the centre but in the other parts of Cambridge.”
Earlier this year, Cambridge Business Improvement District (BID) aimed to generate more funds to help promote the city as a longer-stay destination by asking hoteliers to impose a visitor levy on guests.
Not enough hoteliers voted in favour of the move for the levy to be imposed. But Cambridge BID does also offer other means of aiding visitors.
Maria Manion, chief executive of Cambridge BID, explained: “We have visitor ambassadors – so Cambridge BID funds ambassadors who are located at the market square and at the station, to meet and greet visitors as they arrive into the city.
“The independent visitor centre provides services over and above what we would call the normal meet and greet.
“We provide maps, whereas the independent visitor service offers tours, guided walks and a range of other services.
“Things are changing and evolving within the visitor economy as well, as to how people access information and what they want when they arrive in a destination, so as a BID we’re trying to react to that, and the way that people access information in different ways by the provision of on-street ambassadors to provide that welcome.
“The independent visitor information centre provides a useful service to visitors who require things like the guided walks, and who also would prefer the in-person contact as well.
“It’s a valuable asset to the city, complemented by other services throughout the city and other tour operators as well.”
View the Cambridge Tourist Information Centre’s reviews at tinyurl.com/mr44uztp and find its website at infocambridge.com.
