Asian Trails

Placement organization

Name of organization: Asian Trails
Town/city: Siem Reap
Country: Cambodia
Website: http://www.asiantrails.travel/

Name of student: Eva Boorsma

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Destination Management Company
Organization’s activities: Asian Trails creates tourism products, creates travel programs for customers, guides groups and individual travellers, and takes care of the organization of meetings, incentives, conferences and events.
Target group of the organization: Tourists worldwide
Company culture: The atmosphere within the company is quite informal. The employees are all Cambodian and they act as if they are all family. This made working at Asian Trails so great! However, hierarchy is an important issue in the company and in Cambodia in general. And as the company is managed by French managers and supervisor, showing respect for someone higher in ranking is considered as even more important.
Number of employees: 70
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Partly

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? During my internship I have been working in the MICE department. Besides that, I spent some time in the office in Phnom Penh to learn about and work in the product department, the inbound department, and the operational department. In this way I had the chance to gain some experience in almost all the departments.
Brief description of your daily activities: My daily activities consisted of responding to customer requests we received by creating a quotation. Besides that I have been part of the organization of several incentive trips and a huge press event. During those events I had to assist the tourists on their trips and to be present at a service desk in the hotel.
Brief description of your company assignment: For my company assignment I had to execute a competitor analysis.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision was not very organized. I had a supervisor and a manager at the office in SIem Reap, and the destination manager in Phnom Penh. Their corporation did not always go smooth and it was sometimes not totally clear what my tasks were. However, they did give me a lot of freedom and responsibilities, which I really appreciated. I was able to give my input concerning the departments I wanted to work in and what I would like to learn most.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, flexible, stress-proof, sociable and you need to take into account the Cambodian culture.
Additional company requirements for this placement? No
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French: Intermediate
German:
Italian: Intermediate
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I arranged the accommodation myself, which is doable. There are a lot of hotels where you are able to get a special monthly rate.
How did you go to work every day? Bicycle and tuk tuk

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, a business visa for 6 months
Do you need a work permit? No, the business visa is enough
How did you arrange the necessary documents: The company arranged by business visa after arrival
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? I already had most of the vaccinations. However, you need to start at least 3 months beforehand to get all the vaccinations.

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, as the English level is not high in Cambodia this is not needed if your English level is intermediate.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € €800
Accommodation (monthly): € €270
Local transport (monthly): € €20
General costs of living (monthly): € €200
Costs of visa: € €180
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? The company paid for my business visa and the transport costs that were work related. Besides that, they paid multiple trips and entrance fees.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Before I left I have been reading a lot about Cambodia and the culture. Besides that, my managers sent me a lot of information beforehand so I was able to prepare myself.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes. A lot of Khmer colleagues were not taking initiative. Sometimes this was annoying as tasks could take weeks. They are sometimes slow and hectic in arranging important thing (for example my business visa).

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Be flexible, don not be annoyed by the Cambodian way of working (slow and unorganized), enjoy the country, get in touch with the locals as the Cambodian people are extremely friendly, and just enjoy being in Cambodia!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Siem Reap is a great place to live! The city is lively and especially by night. Besides that, the Angkor Wat is of course a must visit! other places worth visiting are the Phnom Kulen (a holy mountain), the floating villages in the Tonle Sap Lake and the countryside. From SIem Reap it is also easy to visit the city of Battambang.

In Cambodia itself, cities as Kampot, Kep, and Phnom Penh are also great to visit. And when you really need a week of sun, sand and sea, Koh Rong is a beautiful Island definitely worth visiting!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link