For the guests to note: how the Tourist information centre helps tourists at the airport
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Preparing for vacations in Crimea one can look for information on the Internet or ask friends. And there is another source of information about travel routes, cities and attractions which you can get immediately upon arrival − in the Tourist Information Centre at the Simferopol Airport.
The Tourist information centre is a service that provides guests of the peninsula and Crimeans with all the information about local tourism products. Here you can find out everything about the sights of the peninsula, the history of the region, excursions, hotels, transport, events and much more. And all this is free, said the head of the Tourist Information centre (TIC) at the Simferopol international airport Natalia Rogovaya.
"9847 guests of Crimea including 453 travellers from abroad have received consulting services since the beginning of the year. Those were guests from Germany, Croatia, Austria, the Netherlands, China and other countries", − N. Rogovaya emphasized.
Initially, the Tourist information centre was located next to the airport information desk, so specialists had to answer all kinds of the questions (including irrelevant to tourism) of the visitors to the peninsula.
"And we did that work − we provided information about the sights, tourist routes and objects, and in addition to it we provided guests with information about flights, registration, airport infrastructure. Then, since december last year our centre has moved to a separate room, which is located directly opposite the exit from the arrivals zone. On leaving the plane and arrivals zone, tourists can immediately see us and come up with their questions about everything that they may need. We work year-round, during the holiday season from 07:00 to 23:00. For the convenience of foreign guests, we speak English and German", – the TIC employees told us.
Traveling foreigners are accustomed to such services and willingly go to the TIC for advice. And recently, a tourist from China quite surely approached the staff and, using a mobile translator, asked for help with setting up Wi-Fi connection. She did not speak English, and could explain herself only in Chinese. She was quickly connected to the Internet and, as a pleasant bonus, was presented with tourist maps and colourful brochures on the excursion routes in Crimea. Moreover, those printed materials were in Chinese: taking into account the demand for Crimea from China tourists, the ministry of resorts and tourism of the region has developed special booklets for them in chinese.
In general, − as they said at the TIC, − guests from abroad are interested how to get to particular destinations, where the currency exchange rate is better, how to choose better communication rates and, of course, everything about the famous city of Yalta. This destination is the most popular with foreigners.
The main clientele of the Tourist information centre are individual travellers. Some are interested in logistics, some ask for advice on tourist routes in a particular region, others ask for help in finding a hotel. And they receive comprehensive answers to all their questions. The initiator of setting up such a "tourist assistant" was the ministry of resorts and tourism of Crimea.
"In addition to the Internet and social networks, where many can find information about Crimea, live communication is of great importance, especially when there are some problematic issues, such as logistics, location, accessibility of various facilities. For this, the TIC has all the necessary means of information support: maps, diagrams and colourful booklets about the possibilities of recreation in Crimea, which visitors of the Centre receive for free, as well as answers to all questions of interest. The work of the Tourist information centre makes our communication with guests of Crimea more comfortable for everyone", − said the minister of resorts and tourism of Crimea Vadim Volchenko.
