fríggjadagur 12. september 2008síða 14

Vestnorden Travel Mart 2008 14 N ewcomers to any place are in dire need of information. What kind of a place have I come to? What kind of people live here, how do they fare, how do they – and I – move around? Where do they meet and entertain themselves and which are the special things about this place, I have come to? Very seldom do we drop from the moon to a new place. In one way or other we do not arrive by chance to a new and perhaps unfamiliar place. Today most people will have googled and printed out the information about a place, which seems most striking and interesting to them. The experienced traveller will certainly have visited the website of the local information centre or tourist information and printed out the address, opening hours and what kind of services the centre will and can provide. Before tourist information and information centres became a public or commercial service, the visitor had to rely on information from the locals, he or she met on the streets or in hotels/restaurants or very often at the harbour, and certainly even to day any visitor seeking information will be helped along in a warm and friendly if not always in the most professional way. To provide any visitor coming to the Faroe Islands with professional information in a friendly and warm manner we have “a Kunningarstova” in most large settlements. Literally “Kunningarstova” can be translated into Information centre, as it is an information centre for both locals and visitors, and as a visitor seeking information, people will guide you to the tourist information, i. e. Kunningarstovan. Then what do we do and know at a kunningarstova? There are 8 kunningarstovur in the Faeroes, we have an intensive knowledge of what is going on in our town and region, and we represent most of the companies and individuals providing services, activities and events for the visitors. Here you can buy your ticket for a sightseeing trip by boat or bus, arrange a guided walk in town or a mountain hike and we can find you an accommodation and recommend a place to eat. If you want to go fishing, horseback-riding, scuba- diving or wish to rent a car, a bus, a boat or a caravan we know how to book and where to go. We can book you accommodation and helicopter- flight but not your air-line ticket, but then again we know who can. We sell postcards, stamps, books, and some other local souvenirs, but we also know where to go to get a wider range of gifts for your-self and to bring back. And if you want to check your e-mail, you can also do that in some tourist centres. Every Kunning- arstova have all the brochures and free maps you need. Kunningarstovan is open all- year round, and between us we can communicate in many lang- uages: Danish and Scandinavian, English, Icelandic, German and some even in French and Spanish. We even understand a timetable – and we also know a something about the weather. Maybe the strongest asset of a kunningarstova is, that it’s not only a tourist centre but also the local information centre where you will meet the “locals” - and that is a special experience. You’ll find that people are warm, friendly and willing to help, they are curious, so not only can you share your experiences with a fellow tourist but also with a local who can tell you just a little detail that you might have missed. With the help from a kunningarstova and its local contacts many a tourist have found a long lost friend or traced some family they hardly knew. Vestnorden Travel Mart 2008 There are 8 kunningarstovur in the Faroe Islands, and there are 6 tourist associations, one for each region: Norðoyar (the Northern Islands), Eysturoy, Streymoy including Tórshavn, Vágar incl. Mykines, Sandoy incl. Skúvoy and Stóra Dímun and the southernmost region is Suðuroy incl. Lítla Dímun. Some kunn- ingarstovur are run by the town council where they are situated with support from the associa- tion, and some are run by the association with support from the town council where their office is located. These 8 information centres work close together and under the name “Faroese Tourist Info” they are represented by Kunn- ingarstovan in Tórshavn and Norðoyar Kunningarstova, who will be able to tell you not only about their town, island and country, but also about the tourism partners who are not present in Reykjavik. To be honest, they will do their best to convince you that the Faroe Islands are the place where every tourist will get the best holiday ever. The visitor will be enthralled by the great nature, charmed by the small villages and towns, surprised by the nearness of the sea, delighted by the culture, enticed by the music, wondering about the weather and happy to find that everything is much closer than expected. Welcome to the Faroe Islands – welcome to the Kunningarstova Klaksvík – the gateway to The Northern Islands. Norðoyar Kunningarstova represents the northern islands, six very diversified islands. One of these islands can be reached by the postboat “Másin”, in the Lonley Planet claimed as a must when visiting the Faroe Islands Tinganes - thing-site and old town centre Kunningarstovan represent Tórshavn and Streymoy. Tórshavn is the capital and geografical centre of the Faroes, and has since viking age been the Thing-site