Myanmar Tourism Marketing

Placement organization

Name of organization: Myanmar Tourism Marketing
Town/city: Yangon
Country: Azië
Website:

Name of student: Annelou van Elk

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tourism Board
Organization’s activities: Find sponsors, organise fundraising events, create a broad network in the tourism industry and obviously; promote Myanmar as a sustainable tourism destination globally. However, there are some target markets that we mainly focus on, at the moment these are: Europe (Western and Scandinavian), North American (Canada & USA) and Chinese.
Target group of the organization: Global
Company culture: MTM is the marketing arm of Myanmar Tourism Federation. It is basicly responsible for the marketing of the country in its whole. MTM receives support from international companies like CBI and ITC, together a sustainable marketing plan is developed and elaborated.
MTM consists of 5 Myanmar employees, currently all women. They are all very nice ladies, working together for some years. Communication between them is in Myanmar language, so it happens that I miss information about shows, events, news or other business-related things. However, if you ask, they tell you the story in English. They had not worked with international interns before, so I faced with some problems in the beginning. I had to ask for tasks daily, but after a while this changes and you will get more responsibilities. Furthermore, you will go to many business meetings, presentations and interacts. You will meet loads of (important) people in the tourism industry and more.
Number of employees: 6
Dress code: formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I am working for Myanmar Tourism Marketing.
Brief description of your daily activities: Making presentations, preparing trade-shows, organising interact events, organising fund raising events, sending e-mails, writing a marketing plan for Myanmar in whole.
Brief description of your company assignment: I have to write a marketing plan on the destination Myanmar for the coming three years. I did research about potential markets, how to reach them, future actions etc. I worked out frameworks that will make it easier to create social media promotional events and new campaigns.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: As I mentioned before, I had to ask my supervisor what I had to do each day. This took around one month before I got more responsibilities. I think this is normal. Further, I am very satisfied with my supervisor. She took me to all meetings to meet people and get a better idea of the organisation and the current situation of the industry in Myanmar.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Flexible, patient, performable, adaptable!
Additional company requirements for this placement? Writing skills
English: Intermediate
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: At the moment only taxi and bus is available. Busses are, however, very full and slow, but a lot cheaper than taxi. Every day I take a taxi to work and take a bus back.

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Myself. Be aware that prices are (in first half of 2015) extremely high. Estimate that a shared apartment will be around 400US$ per person, at least! I live outside downtown, in an unfurnished apartment for 300US$ pp. Not recommended to get an unfurnished place. However, the area where I live is really nice: Sanchaung or Myaynigone.
How did you go to work every day? To work by taxi, home by bus. Bus to work is not really working, as there is no schedule and its very unreliable.

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, business visa (Business Visa on Arrival is no problem and highly recommend. Just make sure you have all the documents and clean dollars)
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Through MTF, via e-mail. Easily done.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? MTM knows exactly which documents you need, so it can be arranged in a few days.
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? I got them already. If you went on fieldtrip to Myanmar, you do not need any extra vaccins

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 would just do some courses after arrival to learn some basics, people appreciate it.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 900
Accommodation (monthly): € 300
Local transport (monthly): € 150
General costs of living (monthly): € 300 (I don’t have a kitchen, so I always eat outside)
Costs of visa: € 100 (You need to do one visa-run, as the visa is only for 70 days)
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? I receive 2US$ per day for lunch and 150US$ per month salary.
Expenses that are made during work hours (business meetings e.g.) are paid by the organisation.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I had been to Myanmar once before, during the fieldtrip organised by NHTV. I fel in love with the country and its culture, so I was very excited to come here.

I did my exchange in Turkey in the semester before arrival in Yangon. This was a culture shock. You have to be aware that people in Myanmar are less open and spontaneous as Europeans (and especially Turkish!). People here are more reserved and shy, but very kind and welcoming.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? yes

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Living: Find a place in downtown or in Sanchaung area. I find Sanchaung a lot better, as it is less crowded and less commercialised. It is cheaper and there are many restaurants nearby. Also, a lot of young expats are living in this area. But downtown is close to the office, and everything else.

!!NB!! It is very normal that the landlord or agency asks you to pay the full amount of rent in advance. This means that you pay after signing the contract the full amount!

Money: There are plenty of ATMs. Most websites are not updated and will state that it is difficult to withdraw money; not true! You will get paid in US$, but can exchange this at every corner of the street at banks. You pay 5US$ with every transaction. Max amount of money that you can withdraw per time is 300US$, 3 times a day.

Weather: January, February and March are really fine. April and May are terribly hot, but the office has A/C and you can go to swimming pools during the weekend. In June, rain season will start, this will lower the temperature to a lot more comfortable degree (20-25 degrees C).

Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Social life: Yangon has a very small expat community that will make you feel like you live in a small village. After work, people go to restaurants together and have drinks. Also, many events and gatherings are organised. Do not worry that you will feel alone, everyone has been new and is willing to welcome you to the expat society.

Sports: Many sport clubs available, most popular for expats is BalanceFit.

Attraction parks: There are some really cool parks where you can go swimming or do a rollercoaster ride. Fun times for the weekend. Also other swimming pools are open.

Food: Myanmar food is not the most popular cuisine. At work you get Myanmar food, but if you want to bring your own it is no problem. In the city there are plenty of European restaurants. For more info, write me. 😉

Travel: Many opportunities to travel through the country, close must visits are Hpa An, Ngwe Saung (beach), Bago and Mandalay. But if you have more time, there is so much more.

Check out the FB group Yangon Connection or Foodies of Yangon or What’s Happening In Yangon. Good luck! Don’t hesitate to e-mail me, I can give you a lot of info!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link