Ministry for Foreign Affairs opened a WAP site for travellers

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs opened on 19 January, a WAP site intended for Finnish travellers. It offers information related to travel safety published on the Ministry for Foreign Affairs website. The WAP site can be accessed at wap.formin.fi. The service operates on mobile phones supporting the WAP 2.0 standard.

Using their mobile phones, travellers can access the WAP site and read detailed travel advice notices compiled by the Finnish embassies and consulates. The foreign missions monitor the safety situation in their own region and draw up travel notices for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs online service on a regular basis. The travel advice notices inform about the political situation in the country in question, warn about crime and dangerous areas, report traffic problems, and remind of necessary vaccinations.

Travellers not sure of the safety situation in their travel destination are advised to register their own contact details during their travel with the ministry, which can be done via the new WAP site. They can also search for contact information of the nearest foreign mission or the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland on the WAP site.

The first service the Ministry for Foreign Affairs offered for travellers was a text message service operating on mobile phones, launched in spring 2002. The SMS service is still fully operational.

The WAP site was deemed necessary, since it can offer the travellers more information than a mere SMS message. The basis of the WAP site is web content developed for WAP browsers used in mobile phones.

Both services operate in Finnish and Swedish.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs does not charge the expenses for using the mobile services from the user. The user only pays the operators’ fees. The services have been produced in collaboration with Nitro.