TOP 300 Russian Guides Begin Training for WYF 2024 in Sirius

The full-time stage of the preparation of the guides of the More Than a Trip program by Rosmolodezh for the World Youth Festival has started in Sirius. Until March 1, representatives of the Guides of Meanings professional community will get to know the Festival site and test the routes prepared specifically for the event. The best guides of the country were welcomed by Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation.

"There are 300 best guides in this room today. You have a very important job. Representatives of 188 countries will come to Sirius. 10,000 Russian and 10,000 foreign participants and 5,000 volunteers will be here. The Festival will last only 7 days. During this time the guests should not only see the most important things, but also feel them. This is impossible without your help. Making Russian participants feel proud and foreign guests feel respect for Russia is very important to us. You have a unique and amazing task. You will have to instill in 20,000 young people from around the world a sense of pride and respect for our country's history, traditions and culture," Sergey Kiriyenko said.

The organizer of the Festival Tour Program is the More Than a Trip program by Rosmolodezh. 300 out of 10,000 applicants were selected to work at the Festival site. These are the best specialists from all over Russia who will acquaint the Festival guests with Russia's potential in various fields, successes and cultural peculiarities, inspire new achievements, and help them see Russia with new eyes along 10 thematic routes.

"I am sure the World Youth Festival will be a great and meaningful event. You are the real "guides of meanings". It is up to you how the Festival guests will remember our Russia. Their hearts will respond. As they communicate with you, they will make an impression on our people, values, and traditions. All the active and talented young people, our whole country and our president are for peace. It is your task to show it in its true light to those who come from different parts of the world for communication and cultural exchange. I wish you all success. Have a great Festival," said Veniamin Kondratyev, Governor of the Krasnodar Territory.

The guides were selected from tourism professionals, students of specialized universities, museum workers, interpreters, and other professionals over 18 years old. The WYF 2024 guides are part of the Guides of Meanings professional community of the More Than a Trip program by Rosmolodezh, just like the specialists of the Russia International Exhibition and Forum. These are the people who contribute to the development of a useful youth tourism in Russia.

"You will have a difficult but very interesting task. You will not only introduce the guests to the World Youth Festival venues, the Sirius Federal Territory, and our Olympic heritage, but also tell them why all this was created and how it is used and developed today. It depends on your knowledge and involvement how our country, its culture, traditions, and opportunities will be remembered by the guests. I am sure that it will be interesting for both foreign participants and people from different Russian regions. Many of them will participate in an event of this scale and come to Sirius for the first time in their lives. I wish you bright tours, curious guests, and new interesting acquaintances," Elena Shmeleva, Chair of the Board of the Sirius Federal Territory and Head of the Talent and Success Foundation, addressed the guides.

Among the World Youth Festival guides there are 28 guides of the Russia International Exhibition and Forum. More than 400,000 Russians have already got acquainted with the Russian achievements on 14 routes. Today the 15,000th tour took place at the Russia International Exhibition and Forum. One of its guides is Tatiana Ushakova from Astrakhan. 

"As a representative of the Guides of Meanings community at the Russia International Exhibition and Forum, I help the younger generation and young people realize the contribution of each resident of the country to its success. The World Youth Festival is my next professional challenge. The experience and skills I gained during the training and working at the exhibition will definitely help me at the next big event. I am looking forward to sharing my love for Russia, its opportunities, talented people, hospitality, and traditions with all the WYF participants," Tatyana noted.

Before coming to Sirius, all the guides learned about the cultural heritage of the Krasnodar Territory, the history of the transformation of the federal territory, the philosophy of the World Youth Movement, and the standard of useful trips under the More Than a Trip program in the online format. 

During the Festival, the More Than a Trip program by Rosmolodezh will organize 12 hospitality areas. These are where all tours will start and where you will find information regarding thematic routes.

On February 21, the World Guide Day, the "guides of meanings" of the Russia International Exhibition and Forum and the WYF 2024 will exchange experiences, share their impressions of work at the largest events of the year, and give each other important words of support through a teleconference between Moscow and the Sirius Federal Territory, which will be transformed into the World Youth City on March 1-7.

Overview:

The World Youth Festival will take place in 2024 according to the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of international youth cooperation.

20,000 young leaders in education, science, international cooperation, culture, volunteering, charity, sports, business, media, etc., including 10,000 foreign participants, will take part in the WYF 2024. For the first time in the history of the festival movement young people aged 14-17, 500 from Russia and 500 from abroad, will have the opportunity to participate in the event.

The World Youth Festival 2024 is organized by the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) and operated by the World Youth Festival Directorate.

More Than a Trip is a program that has allowed more than 170,000 young people to see unique places in Russia, learn about university and industrial achievements, develop socially significant projects, and make new friends.

Active participants and winners of Russian projects go on trips around the country. They are schoolchildren, students, young specialists from the regions, and family members of military personnel.

In addition to the traditional tourist program – exploration of the natural, cultural and historical features of the regions, visits to Russian industries, educational institutions and other important facilities – young people have the opportunity to contribute to the development of cities, participate in volunteer activities and become co-authors of their trips. Diverse tourism also includes professional self-realization. The travelers can prove themselves and get an offer for an internship and a job, or they can apply their knowledge in their home region.

The More Than a Trip program is implemented by the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) as part of the Make Tourism More Accessible federal project of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry national project. It is part of the project line of the Russia – Land of Opportunity presidential platform and is being implemented with the support of the Movement of the First, the Russian Znanie Society, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, and the Rossotrudnichestvo.