Westtoer

Placement organization

Name of organization: Westtoer
Town/city: Bruges
Country: België
Website: http://www.westtoer.be

Student

Name of student: Linda Damen

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2011-2012

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Provincial (semi-governmental) tourism company
Organization’s activities: Researching, planning, developing, implementing and maintaining tourism products, projects, activities and campaigns for the four regions within West-Flanders.
Target group of the organization: Belgian, Dutch, French, Luxembourgish, German and English tourists.
Company culture: People at Westtoer are very friendly and relaxed toward each other. The managers of the different departments are treated and act pretty much the same as everyone else. As an intern, I was treated and accepted as any other colleague.
Number of employees: About 80
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? General Management, Marketing, Regional operating, Generation of statistics, Personnel, Administration and Finance, Recreation & Product development. I worked in Marketing

Brief description of your daily activities: – contributing to different websites (redaction work, input of texts on the website, contributing to newsletters, etc.)
– organisation, attendance and reporting of internal meetings
– assisting in the organisation of events and fairs
– actively contributing to working the media, press conferences, business tourism, etc.
– actively contributing to the realisation of advertising campaigns
– sifting through newspapers and magazines in search of tourism information
– general, administrative support in the marketing department

Brief description of your company assignment: Creating a marketing plan for attracting Dutch mediors to the Belgian Coast. Content: target group analysis, destination offer analysis, current situation, creative techniques, SWOT, etc.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: I could always ask anyone questions if I needed help. My company placement supervisor provided the needed materials, information, documents etc. in time. She did not interfere much with my workday activities. Supervision on assignments is done by several people.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, taking initiative, flexible, reasonably stress-proof, representable
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Internet. Knowledge of social media can be useful but is not necessary
English: Advanced
Spanish: Intermediate
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Car & train. To travel by train within Belgium it is easy to buy a €50,- card for 10 trips within Belgium.

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I arranged it myself by searching many Flemish websites for student rooms such as www.easykot.be and www.allekoten.be . I eventually found a studio in this student flat: www.studentenkamershuyzecools.be
How did you go to work every day? Bicycle. There is also an easy bus connection. Bus cards are €9,- for 10 trips.

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: I arranged the insurance for my studio at a local insurance office when I arrived in Bruges.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
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? I went on exchange to France

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 50,00
Accommodation (monthly): € 420,00 (for a private studio with bathroom and kitchenette)
Local transport (monthly): € 0,00
General costs of living (monthly): € 300,00
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? EUR 250,00 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? There were some language misunderstandings, but nothing serious. In my opinion the Belgian culture is very much like the Dutch one.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 090632@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Do’s:
– Show your independence and commitment at Westtoer; they will value you as an employee and give you more interesting assignments.
– Take the time to appreciate the place you live in, even when the placement can be quite time-consuming.

Don’ts:
– Don’t get a room in a privately owned house outside of the city center. Everything is located in the center and when you find a room in a student flat, it will be a lot easier to come in contact with other students.

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Bruges is one big outdoor museum, so there is a lot to see. There are some bars and a club in the city center. The coast is only 15 km away.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link