eThekwini Municipality's Durban Tourism Unit has set up nine mobile tourism information kiosks across the city that are operational from today.
Acting head of the tourism unit Philip Sithole says this forms part of a larger extensive tourism information network that is being put in place for the World Cup, with some of the other initiatives being a tourist hotline and the eThekwini Online Web site.
The kiosks are meant to assist the expected influx of tourists during the world event, according to the tourism unit. These units have been set up in areas of entertainment that, for example, have a lot of restaurants, says Sithole. “We have also identified areas where we believe more foreigners will be.”
He adds that, due to the mobile nature of the kiosks, they can easily be moved to busier spots in the event of more popular locations being identified, or kiosks in some areas being under-utilised.
Green power
“The mobile kiosks can be found at Umhlanga, Durban North, Galleria Shopping Centre, the Transport Hub, at the Workshop, Florida Road, Davenport Centre, Durban Bus Station and two will be situated at the Fifa Fan Park, says eThekwini Online.
Each kiosk will be equipped with Internet and mobile communication facilities that will connect them to the Nerve Centre, which is the Joint Operations Centre (JOC), it adds. The JOC will serve as the central information headquarters, as well as the base for police, and emergency services.
“The kiosks are aimed at providing the information interlink between tourists and the city. They will assist with directions, suggest places of interest and help with translations as all kiosks will be manned by multilingual information officers,” says Sithole.
Information such as public transport routes, places of interest, personal safety and accommodation will be available, he adds.
Fifa languages
The information officers at the kiosks will be able to serve one person at a time. “I don't think it will take more than a minute [per person], because they will just be asking questions and getting their answers,” explains Sithole.
He says there is a map on the side of every kiosk so tourists can also help themselves if they need directions.
“If the information officer cannot speak the tourist's language, then they can call the Nerve Centre, which is based at the Durban beach front. There are people there who speak all the Fifa languages so they will be able to assist,” Sithole notes.
He says the service is more about direct contact between the information officer and the tourist, but the Internet and phones are available if there is a need for it.
“Beyond 2010, we are going to use the kiosks for big events in the city like the July Handicap and the Comrades Marathon,” says Sithole. He adds that the kiosks will be removed after 2010 and then brought back for big events.
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