Tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN)

Placement organization

Name of organization: Tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN)
Town/city: Durban
Country: Zuid-Afrika
Website: http://zulu.org.za

Name of student: Jorine Vermeer

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tourism authority
Organization’s activities: Tourism research, tourism marketing, tourism development, finance, tourism promotion.
In the research department: economic impact assessments on events, market analysis for KwaZulu-Natal, surveys on brand image etc.
Target group of the organization: All tourists visiting KwaZulu-Natal
Company culture: The hierarchy in TKZN is the traditional one with several departments that all need approval of the CEO. The atmosphere in the departments is friendly and welcoming. Communication is good and small talks are very common even between interns and managers. I am sure you will feel at ease and welcome in TKZN.
Number of employees: +/- 60 to 70
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Research department
Brief description of your daily activities: Filing media clippings, analyzing research data gained with event impact assessments, analyzing the rank of South Africa in indexes and writing a report accordingly. Assist colleagues in creating tourism brochures for Durban and surroundings, however my department is only responsible for the information provided in these brochures and not the lay-out. The visitor book project report.
Brief description of your company assignment: This TKZN project collects tourism information on media influence, purpose of visit, country of residence and more, of those people who visited participating establishments in KZN, by means of filling in visitor books.

The data collected by this project gives TKZN an increasingly clear picture of who the visitors to KZN are, which not only helps TKZN to market the right tourism products to the right market, but also helps small enterprises in KZN to understand their own market, which will increase their marketing efficiency and effectiveness.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervision in TKZN is excellent, my supervisor Karen is very nice and she assists me well.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, sociable, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? No
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? previous students
How did you go to work every day? mini-bus (local taxi) only 5 Rand (approx. 40 cents)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, student visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 2 months
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance?

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): € 190 (shared room)
Local transport (monthly): € €20
General costs of living (monthly): € A bit cheaper as in the Netherlands
Costs of visa: € Check embassy website
Costs of work permit: € /
What did the company pay for/to you? Financial compensation of €130 monthly. I got payed extra when I worked in the weekends at events.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I watched movies, read books, read magazines and talked to people who had been here.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 122107@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: I stayed at the international house of Alan Rowe. You can find it on the internet, it is located on 266 Bulwer Road. I would definitely advise you to find a room here, as I would not have wanted to stay in any other place. It is a great way to meet new people and to find people to do trips with. Moreover, you will never feel lonely in this house.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: I mostly went surfing in the weekends or did trips to nature areas outside of Durban. If you are interested in surfing, make sure you buy your own board in the beginning to save costs of renting. Public transport is not very convenient outside of the city, so renting a car is advisable to visit nature areas and game reserves.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link