The Department of Tourism’s Russian Language Programme is moving into phase two, which will see two of the best performing candidates travel to Moscow, Russia.

In Moscow the candidates will continue their learning experience and they will also be introduced to some of the tour operating companies based in the city that are selling South Africa.

Speaking at the Russian Language Training programme certificate ceremony, the Programme Director, Lizzy Mathopa said this phase will begin in late March 2017.

At the ceremony, eight participating tourism practitioners were awarded certificates for successfully completing phase one of the Foreign Language Training Programme. The programme, a capacity-building initiative, was designed to enable staff and tourist guides to develop competencies in Russian.

Programme participants will be given a CD featuring learning material to assist in their ongoing practical experience. The participants will provide feedback to the department to gauge whether additional training in other languages will be needed.