Dial a Random Swede for Tourist Information

Thinking about visiting a foreign country, but not sure if it’s really all its cracked up to be and don’t want to shell out a ton of money on a trip to place that you might not really like? Why not talk to someone (or a few someones) from that country first to get a better feel?

Genius idea, right? A Scandinavian tourist board thought the same thing and is using that idea to bring in visitors.

“The Swedish Number” is the name of the program and it’s exactly what it sounds like. If you’re interested in talking to someone who lives in Sweden, you just call +46 771 793 336 and you’ll be connected to a person who lives in Sweden so that you can talk about anything you want.

According to the tourist board behind the concept, people calling in have talked about everything like "northern lights, meatballs, politics, skiing, snow, gay rights, fashion, anything.”

In just the first week of the phone number being launched, over 10,000 calls had been logged. About 35% of those calls came from right here in the United States and 21% of the calls came from Turkey.

While you can pretty much talk about anything, The Guardian says it’ll definitely annoy a Swede if you ask them how they feel about about Ikea, Abba or what they think about the Swedish Chef in The Muppets, so you might want to avoid those subjects.

[via The Guardian/Ad Week]