TAXI drivers have a pivotal role to play in the future success of the tourism and finance industries, claims a top businessman. Healthspan chief executive and Blue Islands chairman Derek Coates said they ensured the island kept ticking over and their role should never be underplayed.
‘In an island sometimes we might not think about it a lot, but we all depend on each other.
‘Without hotels we wouldn’t have a tourist industry and without our finance industry we wouldn’t have our hotels and air links.
‘But if it wasn’t for our taxi drivers there would be no-one to take them to the places they need to go.’
And as Christophe Vincent, head of Christophe, the island’s only Michelin-starred restaurant explained, when it came to getting a positive message across, nobody could do it better than taxi drivers. They were the ‘front line ambassadors’ for the leisure and business tourists.
He served up a full English breakfast yesterday to 20 local cabbies as his way of showing appreciation for what they do.
‘If you want to know what’s going on in island life - where the best places are to eat and to stay - local taxi drivers are the people to tell you.
‘I think that few people realise the importance of their role as local ambassadors for our tourism sector. They really can help get the message across that top restaurants like Christophe are not stuffy or boring.
‘I also wanted to prove that a Frenchman is up to the task of cooking the best ﾓfull Englishﾔ you will ever experience.’
Taxi driver Aaron Rabet said the bulk of his colleagues, if not all of them, would agree with Mr Coates’s words.
‘To stay busy, we need people to keep coming to the island. We are all part of the same game.
‘And it’s important to create a modern feel towards taxiing and one that is hopefully more customer friendly.’
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