Rain Forest Tours

Placement organization

Name of organization: Rain Forest Tours
Town/city: La Antigua Guatemala
Country: Guatemala
Website: http://www.rainforestguate.com/tours/

Student

Name of student: Lisa Janssen

Specialist area: MTT
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Touroperator
Organization’s activities: Organizing tours and short trips in Guatemala and other countries in Central America.
Target group of the organization: Families and eldery people
Company culture: The company is very formal and small, there are only 2 employees. You have good contact with everyone and can ask anything.
Number of employees: 2
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Marketing and social media department.
Brief description of your daily activities: Sending e-mails to clients or other companies.
Keeping the social media accounts updated.
Find new companies to work with and contact them.
Create new ways in the marketing area to attract new customers.
Talk to customers and find what they want to do.
Brief description of your company assignment: I am making a sales and marketing plan for the company. In this plan you can see what the company can do to attract more clients, and what they can do to improve the company so Rain Forest Tours will get more customers. It will also show the company how to work better with their clients and how to improve their appearence.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: There are only two employees, and only one of them is in the office all day. He is my supervisor and often asks me how I’m doing with my school assignment and my normal tasks. He is formal, but very professional and has been running the business alone (with his wife) for 15 years. If I have any questions, he is always happy to help me out.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, sociable, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, writing skills,
English: Advanced
Spanish: Intermediate
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Internet
How did you go to work every day? By foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No, you will get a stamp in your passport when you arrive and this stamp will be valid for 90 days. After 90 days, you have to get a new stamp at the Migration Service in Guatemala-City.
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: If you do not have a passport yet, one week to get one.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? One week for my passport.
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance? There are no onligated vaccines, but there are a few recommended ones. I took three of them, 1 month and a half 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? Yes. Spanish is not obligatory, but would be very usefull to interact with customers. The employees speak English.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € €900
Accommodation (monthly): € €270
Local transport (monthly): € €0
General costs of living (monthly): € €100
Costs of visa: € If you stay longer than 90 days, you will have to get a new visa stamp at the Migration service in Guatemala City. This costs €15
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Only the tours I did that they offer while I have been doing the internship.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Search a lot on the internet about the country. I also had a meeting with the Travelboard at the NHTV because Guatemala is code orange. They had a list of students who went to Guatemala in the past years.
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: Lisa05081996@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Don’t walk alone at night, especially when you are a girl.
Don’t show people that you owe valuable things.

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There are many cafés and restaurants in Antigua and it is very cosy. There are also a lot of schools to learn Spanish, so there are a lot of international students to learn the language. There are also a few bars open every night of the week, but the most crowded nights are ofcourse in the weekend.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link