Fourteen informational tourist booths installed in most crowded and frequently visited places in Chernivtsi – train and bus stations, hotels, museums, shopping malls, and even in the lobby of City Hall – were launched. On the outside they resemble conventional electronic terminals, but the informational content will allow users to find all necessary tourist information about both Chernivtsi oblast and Suceava County of Romania on their own and for free. Therefore, for tourists’ convenience the touchscreen is divided into two sections: information about northern and southern Bukovyna available in seven languages. The touchscreen “guide” provides information about architectural flair in each locality of the two adjacent areas of the two countries, their architectural gems, museums, theaters, festivals, hotels, restaurants, government offices, transport, cost of services, and so on.
The initiator of the booths installment is the NGO “Chernivtsi Business Center.” According to director of “Business Center” Maria Porchuk, in such a way organizers intend to improve tourism development in the border areas. Their project “Going Across the Borders: Development of Mountain Tourism” is financed by the European Union as a part of joint program for cross-border cooperation “Romania-Ukraine-Moldova.” According to Halyna Hotovych, deputy director of the Department of Economics at Chernivtsi City Council, the booths are now operating in test mode and the information is available only in Ukrainian, but in April they will operate at full capacity.
