The Russians are coming! At least, that is what South African tourism officials are hoping. They want to attract more Russian tourists so the Department of Tourism is training tourist guides to speak Russian and Mandarin.The department says 7,244 Russian tourists visited South Africa in 2015, a number tourism officials want to improve.Most were high-income tourists who came for luxury safari tours.The department said that 1.7-million Russians visited Thailand for its beaches and it wants local coastal destinations to compete for the traffic.According to the Chinese Embassy, 58,000 tourists from the Asian nation visited South Africa in the first half of 2016.The department is training eight tour guides in Russian and 20 in Mandarin in the first phase of the programme.The programme's top performers will spend two to four weeks in China or Russia to enhance their understanding of the language they have learnt.Those enrolled in the programmed are front-line staff in the tourism industry.Tour guide Phelisa Matyolo of Lesedi Cultural Village in Broederstroom, is thrilled about the training."For us to know their language and culture is a great experience and will make our visitors feel that they are indeed at home."Chinese deputy ambassador Li Song said there were other language partnerships with the SA police, as well as the International Relations and Basic Education departments...