Orange Journeys

Placement organization

Name of organization: Orange Journeys
Town/city: Sydney
Country: Australië
Website: http://www.orangejourneys.com.au

Name of student: Anne Smeitink

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Inbound DMC & Travel Agency
Organization’s activities: Orange Journeys is a small tour operator, both inbound and outbound, based in Cronulla, Sydney.

The Outbound expertise is to help with package holidays, adventure travel, international and domestic cruising, and luxury travel. Qantas Holidays, APT, Scenic Tours, Peregrine, Cunard, Avalon and Creative Holidays are just a few of the brands represented.

As for the Inbound DMC, they work with multiple companies, especially in Europe, such as Kras, Sawadee, KidsReizen and more. Orange Journeys provides services such as, product development, group tour itineraries, standardized FIT itineraries, accommodation, transport, and all other operations management. They are growing their inbound DMC activities, where they specialize in group tours/GIT and standard FIT itineraries.

Target group of the organization: Western European (Group) Tour Operators
Company culture: Orange Journeys has an informal company culture and you are really part of the team. Your colleagues will make you feel at home and are very friendly
Number of employees: 4 (including student)
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? As it is a small company, you need to be flexible and you will be working in all ‘departments’.

– Inbound operations
– Marketing
– Product development
– Travel agency; to assist your colleagues if they need any help.
Brief description of your daily activities: The daily activities are change every day and you need to be flexible and switch from one task to another if necessary.

Inbound:
– developing new products/itineraries
– preparing trip details, rooming lists, passenger lists
– keep in contact with local partners and with the clients in Western Europe etc.

Travel agency:
– finding suitable hotels
– reviewing and creating (parts of) quotes

Marketing:
– creating the monthly newsletter
– creating posts for Facebook
– helping with events held at the Cronulla Golf Club (Orange Journeys is one of their sponsors)

Brief description of your company assignment: Developing a Product Plan for FIT and taking the leading role in its implementation and execution.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision at Orange Journeys is really good! The supervisor is very experienced in the Tourism industry and will share his knowledge with you. He will also guide you throughout the internship and will show you what it is like to having your own company (if you are interested).

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Flexible, independent, sociable
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, writing skills
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? Company
How did you go to work every day? Public transport

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, Working Holiday Visa Subclass 417
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Online
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 1 hour
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? If you’re not advanced in the English language, then I would definitely recommend a language course.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1250
Accommodation (monthly): € 700
Local transport (monthly): € 50
General costs of living (monthly): € 500
Costs of visa: € 400
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Financial compensation of 500 AUD per month.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn’t really prepare myself for the country’s culture. I always assumed that Australia was a very open-minded country and everyone was relaxed, this is the case in most parts of the country and with most people but not everywhere of course. The company and my home here are based in the Sutherland Shire, which is quite a conservative and closed part of Sydney. To me it wasn’t a massive shock, as the people that I got to know where not like that, and you wouldn’t notice it right away.
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: annesmeitink@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Be aware that Australia is a very expensive country (especially accommodation and sports), so make sure you have enough finances before arriving here.

Travel the country! Australia is great and beautiful, so definitely travel around before your internship starts or when you’re done
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: – Royal National Park (really close to work and home)
– Darling Harbour, Opera House, Botanic Gardens, Bondi Beach
– Blue Mountains

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link