XO Africa

Placement organization

Name of organization: XO Africa
Town/city: Cape Town
Country: Zuid-Afrika
Website: http://www.xoafrica.com

Student

Name of student: Tessa van der Zanden

Specialist area: MT
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: Making tailor made packages for indiviudal travelers, incentives and events.
Target group of the organization: High end (4 to 5 star accommodations) individual travelers with tailor made packages. The main markets are coming from France followed Italy and Spain.
Company culture: Everyone at the office is open and social towards each other. The atmosphere is very relaxed, also between the management and director and the consultants. The position of me as a student was just the same as the rest of the company. Everybody respects each other.
Number of employees: Approx. 40 at XO, 15 in FIT
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I worked in FIT (Foreign individual traveler)
Brief description of your daily activities: Calling suppliers to check for availability/confirm bookings, send emails for booking requests, creating quotes in the system, creating travel documents and synopsis’, prepare GPS for clients, come up with programs, making powerpoints for clients.
Brief description of your company assignment: The placement assignment involves all the workday activities and being able to work at the pace as the other consultants. As it is a very busy year for XO Africa, an extra consultant is the best help they could have and was most appreciated at that moment. My company assignment: Making a list of activities according to the season, for each month of the year, so they can see what the main attraction is. This way XO Africa knows where to send their clients. It will become a selling tool.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My company supervisor was Marie, who is very friendly. She was a good supervisor even though she was pretty busy all the time. Very open minded and easy to work with. She will answer all the questions you have.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Flexible, social and having the motivation of putting into action what you have learned during your studies at NHTV.
Additional company requirements for this placement? None, when starting the internship, interns get a special training for the use of the software systems used in the company.
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French: Advanced
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I arranged it by the company 4exchange. On their website I found a student hotel (Best Western Cape Suites) and they arranged everything for me.
How did you go to work every day? 3 months by mini bus, 2 months by car

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassy in the Hague
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 1 to 2 months as the department of south Africa in The Hague is really slow and a lot of documents need to be prepared
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 2 months

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? No

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € € 700
Accommodation (monthly): € € 260
Local transport (monthly): € € 20 (minibus), € 300 (car rental)
General costs of living (monthly): € € 200
Costs of visa: € € 50
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? EUR 200,00 per month

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No, as mostly foreigners work in the company. The only thing that might influence performance, are the really high temperatures outside

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: tessa0208@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: What to do:
Use the minibus as it is extremely cheap and easy
Take care of your personal belongings
See as much of South Africa as possible

What not to do:
Don’t walk alone outside at night
Don’t wait to long with your visa
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Hiking lion’s head and table mountain
Shark cage diving and whale watching in Hermanus
Wine tasting in the Winelands
Garden route
Green market square

Restaurants:
– Beluga
– Bombay bicycle club
– Cafe Paradiso
– Gold restaurant

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link