The significant role hotel concierge staff play in the Island’s tourism industry is to be celebrated in a new National Concierge Day.It is hoped the event — which will be held for the first time on Wednesday — will enable key front line employees to better address the needs of visitors and improve their holiday experience.The event has been organised by the Chamber of Commerce and came about after concerns that holidaymakers were not being fully informed of everything that Bermuda has to offer.As a result, concierge staff will spend the day on a mini tour of the Island which will highlight a number of must-see destinations.Chamber Executive Director Joanne MacPhee said: “The idea came to us as a result of a staff brainstorming session borne out of concern about the seeming lack of communication between the various industry stakeholders, as observed at our Tourism Division meetings.“The objective of the event is to improve the overall guest experience through knowledge, understanding and networking. We want our front line staff to have all the tools they need to help our guests make informed decisions.”The day will begin with a boat tour from the Fairmont Hamilton Princess to Dockyard, where participants will be treated to breakfast at the Bone Fish restaurant.That will be followed by a tour of Dockyard, after which the concierge team will then take a private minibus tour east towards St George’s stopping at the Swizzle Inn in Bailey’s Bay for lunch.Following a personalised tour of St George’s, the group will head into Hamilton for a trade show at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.The entire whirlwind, whistle stop tour is scheduled to take seven-and-a-half hours.“The two-hour trade show will showcase a myriad of guest related activities and products and give the concierge staff the opportunity to meet one-on-one with industry partners so that they can better understand their offering and begin to build relationship which will hopefully transcend into stronger partnerships,” Mrs MacPhee said.She added that the event would not have been possible without the generosity of all involved.“The Chamber had an idea, but absolutely no money to execute this rather impromptu initiative, so we reached out to everyone we knew to ask them to support the event and the response has been incredible, with almost all products and services being completely donated or heavily discounted.“We cannot thank our partners enough for helping us make this happen,” she said.So far 13 properties and 32 staff have signed up for what is hoped will become an annual event.Organisations wishing to participate in the trade show who have not yet signed up are asked to contact Mrs MacPhee directly jmacphee@bcc.bm before close of business today.