A Warm Welcome!

- Zelia Mullins -

On one of the very warm days during December, Zelia Mullins & Chantelle Freysen, Prince Albert’s Tourism Officers, assisted by the Prince Albert Police and local school children from Hoërskool Zwartberg, hosted a “welcome campaign”.

A road-block was set-up next to Albert’s Mill, alongside the gurgling “leiwater sloot” and under the trees that provided much-needed shade.

It wasn’t long before the first motorist arrived! Then it was time for action – the motorists were pulled off the road by our friendly police officers and then the welcome began.

Zelia and Chantelle handed out Prince Albert promotional material, the December issue of the Prince Albert Friend, a “goodies” bag filled with sponsored local products, fresh fruit and ice cold cool drinks.

The facial expressions of the various motorists and passengers were priceless – first the shock, disbelief and disappointment of being pulled off the road by the police. This was soon followed by utter surprise, relief and then once again, disbelief and even wariness (especially from overseas visitors) that instead of being handed a traffic fine they were given free cool drinks, a “goodies” bag and a big welcoming SMILE!

A few locals decided to disguise themselves as visitors, but to no avail. All they got was the big SMILE!

The campaign was well received by visitors and one German tourist even remarked that he was going to suggest to his local police office back home that they should try something like this.

We handed out a total of 80 “goodie” bags during the course of the day, which means that 80 vehicles were stopped and at least 160 visitors were welcomed to our town. The response and appreciation has been totally overwhelming. A big thank you to all our sponsors who made this campaign possible, hopefully we can do it again this year.