OREANDA-NEWS. February 22, 2012. The first in Karelia information call-center for Russian and international tourists has started working in Petrozavodsk on February, 17. Head of Karelia Andrei Nelidov and two famous Russian travellers Feodor Konyukhov and Victor Boyarsky have taken part in the opening ceremony.

The telephone number of the information centre is easy to remember, as it is 333-333. Its operators speak Russian and English languages and will answer every question that concerns guests of our republic. For example, they provide information on hotels, transport and travel packages. The new service is also in charge of consulting tourists in emergency situations, in particular, they call emergency and police and communicate with the Central Administration of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergency Management and Natural Disasters Response in the Republic of Karelia. During the opening ceremony the work of operators and the equipment were demonstrated to the visitors.

Andrei Nelidov has valued the services rendered by the call-center very important: "The tourindustry in Karelia is in development, and to keep people informed about it we need an information block that would answer the questions. It is an example of a serious promotion of this or that sphere with sufficiently small financial investments." In the opinion of the Head of the republic, now it is necessary to think over advertising the center to tourists: "Coming in the republic one may be sure that there are people able to help to find a hotel 24 hours a day, to find an accommodation, to buy a travel package. It is great that we have got such a structure, I recon, that it will contribute to development of the sphere of tourism."

Besides installation of information boards on the border with Karelia, today the Ministry of the Republic of Karelia of Youth Affairs, Physical Training, Sports and Tourism works on the opportunity of sending automatic SMS messages with the phone number of the call-center to all people entering our region.

Feodor Konyukhov has also liked the idea of the regional information centre. The distinguished traveller has emphasized that on his trips across Russia he had never seen such centers in regions of the country, while in Europe they have already proved their utility. According to Feodor Konyukhov, it is important that the center is created under the national aegis, which guarantees the quality of rendered services.

After the opening of the call-center Head of Karelia Andrei Nelidov has held a special meeting with Feodor Konyukhov and Victor Boyarsky where the opportunity of organization of future expeditions of these outstanding travellers under the aegis of the republic was discussed.