Internet and culture: Unified tourist portal of Moscow to launch by the end of 2011

By the end of 2011 the Internet will create a single portal on tourism opportunities for residents of Moscow and its guests.

A representative of the municipal Department of Information Technology said that "the site will publish interactive maps, posters of cultural events, thematic routes, developed by Moscow historians and architects, guides including the most complete and accurate information about tourist opportunities in the city - from the list of hotels and hostels to restaurants". The department also promised to make an option for developing a personal guide around Moscow considering the interests of a particular tourist.

According to the resource authors it will be the "hallmark of the capital on the Internet, make Moscow more popular on the tourist map of Europe, will contribute to the development of civilized market of tourist services."

As emphasized the department’s representative, the first version of the site will be bilingual - Russian and English, and by the time of the World Cup 2018 to be held in Moscow the portal "will speak" in other languages.

It is planned that the resource will be receive at least 10 000 hits daily.

According to the chairman of the Moscow Committee for Tourism, Sergei Shpilko, "soon a city call center for foreign tourists to be launched."