“The most sanitized duck boat in America.”
That’s how TV and movie star John Krasinski described one of Boston Duck Tours’ truck ducks on SGN, the celebrity’s YouTube show that highlights “some good news” during the COVID-19 crisis.
In the third episode of SGN, which includes funny videos and remote interviews, Krasinski treats a team of Boston hospital workers to an on-air chat with Red Sox legend David Oritz. The segment culminates with the masked health care providers getting a trip to Fenway Park aboard one of Boston Duck Tours’ 28 amphibious vehicles.
You can watch SGN Episode #3 below. (The segment with the hospital staff, Big Papi, and the truck duck starts at the 10:03 mark.)
“This was an amazing way to repurpose our Duck and thank health care workers,” says Cindy Brown, CEO of Boston Duck Tours.
Brown says that her staff, also, has found a new purpose during the COVID closure.
“We have compiled a bunch of online hospitality courses for our staff to take while working from home,” she says. “Sixteen of us are taking Florida Atlantic University’s certificate course on hospitality/tourism management, which is being offered for free.”
Only six of the company’s 180 employees are still on the payroll, but all managers are taking the FAU course, in which some 60,000 people enrolled at the zero-dollar price. Brown’s team made a list of other free courses that includes NTA’s webinars, a Disney Imagineer Class, and a HubSpot marketing class.
“We want to learn some new strategies and then bring them back to share with each other,” Brown says. “We hope to be back giving tours again by sometime in June, but who knows.”
After a few weeks of online learning, Brown and her staff will be well-prepared and ready for the Ducks to roll (and float) again.
For more information, including the list of online resources compiled by Brown’s team, email her. And to learn more about Boston Duck Tours, visit bostonducktours.com.
For more travel industry resources on COVID-19 click here.
Top photo by Kyle Klein
