Destination Bristol

Placement organization

Name of organization: Destination Bristol
Town/city: Bristol
Country: Groot-Brittannië
Website: http://www.visitbristol.co.uk

Name of student: Jara Osterfeld

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: DMO
Organization’s activities: Destination Bristol promotes and facilitates the interests and development of Bristol’s and South Gloucestershire’s visitor economy by working together with the tourism and hospitality businesses in the area. They organise, for example, fam and press trips, work with the travel trade and visit fairs, manage the Tourist Information Centre and the www.visitbristol.co.uk website, and offer a venue finding service for business events.
Target group of the organization: leisure and business tourists, domestic and international
Company culture: Although roles are clearly defined, hierarchies are rather flat and everyone is easily approachable. Also within the office, there is a friendly and rather informal atmosphere.
Number of employees: 22
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
Brief description of your daily activities: My daily activities included updating the website www.visitbristol.co.uk by for example uploading events to the events calendar or updating product listings, writing blog entries, creating and translating powerpoint presentations, getting in touch with other businesses to request information, and other various tasks that supported the day to day work of the marketing team.
Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment was the creation of content for the website for the school visit segment. This included research into the target market, and what Bristol has to offer in this regard. I created a contact directory as well as conducted secondary research into the characteristics of the market, a competitor analysis and a SWOT analysis of Bristol, in order to create exemplary itineraries for primary and secondary schools.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Although my supervisor was always very busy and she spent a lot of the time outside the office, when approaching her, she always made time to help and made sure I was ok. Also, the marketing team, with whom I shared an office and who I worked together with on most of my daily activities, was always happy to help and answer any possible questions.

Requirements for students on placement

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

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? www.spareroom.co.uk
How did you go to work every day? bike

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): € 150 €
Accommodation (monthly): € 600 €
Local transport (monthly): € –
General costs of living (monthly): € 400 €
Costs of visa: € –
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? There was no financial compensation but you are eligible for the Erasmus + grant unless the Brexit will change that.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not prepare for the country’s culture.
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: 131282@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Working for Destination Bristol was a great experience and especially because the company is comparably small, you will get the chance to gain many insights into place marketing and destination management in many ways.

There will be various opportunities to go on new openings or other meetings, which I recommend to join as often as possible, because it is both fun and a great way to understand Bristol as tourism destination.

Furthermore, you will be part of a very friendly and fun team but at the same time, they are very hard-working and have high standards, which you should be able to cope with.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: You will always find somewhere to go or something to do, which makes Bristol a truly great city to live in. Especially during spring and summer, there is always a festival going on or you can enjoy the weather in one of Bristol’s many parks or pubs. Also at night, there are many places where you can meet students from the two universities, and always have a look at the live gigs taking place because there are often great artists performing in Bristol.

Especially compared to London, I enjoyed Bristol so much because it was less busy but still so much to do and in many ways, I found it easier to dive into the British culture. It is a very diverse city, from the harbourside and the old city to the posh and very English Clifton area to the bohemian street art center Stokes Croft where you can find some of Banksy’s works, too. After all, if you do feel the urge to leave Bristol for some time, Bath and Cardiff are a short train ride away as well as there is great countryside to explore.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link