In a project designed to make Salisbury, Wiltshire, more visitor-friendly, the local further education college - Salisbury College - has been asked to create a course of language lessons that will allow carpark attendants to greet overseas visitors in their own language.

With a basic grasp of the four languages, the newly-labelled ambassadors will be encouraged to give directions to sites such as the city's cathedral or offer information about eating and drinking.

Salisbury, a popular destination on the heritage trail, attracts more than two million overseas visitors a year, worth £86m to the local economy. This financial contribution, the council believes, makes the welcoming of tourists more of an economic necessity than a courtesy.

The link between the council's plan for its workers and the local further education college was Councillor Steve Fear, the leader of the Labour group on Salisbury Council, who also works as head of general education at Salisbury College.

Steve Fear has arranged for the council's 15 city ambassadors to attend weekly language lessons, which he said will be the first encounter with language teaching for some of them.