Bahamas Tourist Office

Placement organization

Name of organization: Bahamas Tourist Office
Town/city: London
Country: Groot-Brittannië
Website: http://www.bahamas.co.uk

Student

Name of student: Lyda Gietema

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2013-2014

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tourism Board
Organization’s activities: Bahamas Tourist Office is a part of an organizational chart of the Ministry of Tourism which is situated in Nassau, the Bahamas. BTO London is responsible for all the Sales & Marketing in Europe which can be divided in three parts; PR, Advertising and TO/TA. BTO London is the headquarters of the European offices (France, Italy, Germany, Russia and the office in China)
Target group of the organization: UK, Ireland, Scandinavian and Dutch market
Company culture: Informal
Number of employees: 3
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Marketing & Sales department
Brief description of your daily activities: – Office management
– Answering the phones
– Dealing with trade and consumer requests
– Monitoring info@bahamas.co.uk
– Assisting monitoring the UK budget
– Preparing and attending customer/trade shows
– Trade and media requests
– Liaising with the PR consultant and the Adverting consultancy

Brief description of your company assignment: Conduct a market study on The Bahamas niche markets, do desk research and make a consumer profile of the UK Dive, Fish, Sail, Golf and Bird Watching market.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Supervision in the office is good, I can always ask anything to both colleagues. You have to work individually as the others are some times out of office for Travel Agency trainings or Trade shows. They give feedback on the assignments and will tell you when you are doing a good job and (also when you’re not)

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, Sociable, Flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? Communication skills, Word, Excel & Outlook
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane (bus/train/boat/car is possbile as well)

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I found it on www.gumtree.com
How did you go to work every day? Underground and walk

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No
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?
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): € €110,- incl. luggage
Accommodation (monthly): € €520,- for a shared room
Local transport (monthly): € €102,- with a 18+ oyster card
General costs of living (monthly): € >€400,-
Costs of visa: € –
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? £5,- a day for lunch, received it in the end of the month in vouchers which I could spend in supermarkets/ Starbucks/ fast food chains/ restaurants etc.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn’t prepared myself, the English culture is not that much different from the Dutch.
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: 121633@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Go to the TFL website, this is for public transport in London, and apply for a student card. You’ll save 30% on travel expenses with this card, highly recommended if your company doesn’t pay for your commuting.

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: You will never get bored in London as there is always something going on. Check www.timout.com for good parties and all the other events. Bring a lonely planet with you to guide you through the city. Almost all of the museums are for free, try to visit as much as possible. It is hard to avoid the tourists in this city, but if possible, try to do so!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link