Borneo Eco Tours

Placement organization

Name of organization: Borneo Eco Tours
Town/city: Kota Kinabalu
Country: Maleisië
Website: https://www.borneoecotours.com/

Name of student: Lieke Landman

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: The organization creates and sells ecological (tailor made) tours through Borneo. They found eco tourism very important, which can be seen in all the tours they sell. Besides the office in Kota Kinabalu, they have the Sukau Rainforest Lodge, an eco lodge located in Sukau (East Sabah). Furthermore, there is the BEST Society, a corporate social responsibele society, helping the unfortunate. BEST Society is a non profit organization, founded by Borneo Eco Tours.
Target group of the organization: Very broad; families, couples, single travelers and all different kind of ages.
Company culture: The company culture is very relaxed. The contact between employees is informal, and it is very easy to talk to your colleagues. Everyone is happy to help you or to learn you more about the local culture. In my opinion the atmosphere in the office is very pleasant.
The hierarchy can be seen with the founder of the company Mr. Albert Teo, he has a lot of prestige and every one will treat him with a lot of respect. However, the advantage is that he will treat you with a lot of respect as well.
Number of employees: About 100 employees in total and around 50 in the office.
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes, perfectly.

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I am working at the sales and marketing department. The first month I did sales only, upon the second month I did both sales and marketing. Both positions gave me a great opportunity to learn a lot, to gain more knowledge and to increase my skills.
Brief description of your daily activities: During my daily activities (for the sales department) I have my own guests; replying emails, creating tours/ itineraries, costings and preparing welcome kits.

For the marketing department I worked on the Borneo Eco Tours and the Sukau Rainforest Lodge facebook. I posted for both pages every day. Besides that I wrote different articles and/or presentations.
Brief description of your company assignment: As company assignment I conducted a research and wrote a marketing plan/ product development for the Kiulu Valley. At this moment the company is working on a new tour for that area, and it is my task to help them, provide information and to share my own ideas about possible products.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision is good organized. I am supervised by my own “buddy” and by the boss and general manager. They are always willing to help me and to give feedback. They give me a lot of freedom, just to let me try first. All supervisors helped me to reach the next level and provided me with a lot of knowledge.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, Team Player. Sociable, Flexible and Performable.
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, writing skills, oral skills.
English: Basic
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? The company recommend me my accommodation
How did you go to work every day? Public transport

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Not necessarily, however, without visa you are only allowed to stay 90 days in the country. After 90 days you can choose to go out of the country for a few days or to buy a visa at the ambasady.
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? Yes
How long in advance? 2 months

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? Not really, everyone is able to speak at least basic English.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 900
Accommodation (monthly): € 400
Local transport (monthly): € 60
General costs of living (monthly): € 200
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? They paid me the transportation allowance of RM300, which is about 75 euro’s.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
The culture is very different. People are very friendly, talkative and curious about you. Sometimes it can be difficult because of the huge difference, however it is very important to stay open minded. Therefore, it is really useful to read a lot about the culture to understand some things better.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No, because I could adapt really easily.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: llandman1234@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Before you go to Kota Kinabalu, read something about the country and the culture. Be aware that West-Malaysia is very different than Borneo. Furthermore, it is really nice to explore the local life and to go with your local friends back to the villages. You’ll experience a lot of different things, however, very beautiful! And the most important thing is to be open minded and just accept everything the way it is :).
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Leisure possibilities are the islands you can visit, shopping malls, bars/restaurants, Mount Kinabalu or some beautiful villages around the city.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link