Riga Tourism Development Bureau

Placement organization

Name of organization: Riga Tourism Development Bureau
Town/city: Riga
Country: Letland
Website: http://www.liveriga.com/en/

Name of student: Solveiga Kreslina

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2015-2016

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: DMO
Organization’s activities: •Plan and execute marketing and sales activities for different target groups in order to increase the number of tourists in Riga, their length of stay, the level of satisfaction with the stay in Riga;
•Develop informational and promotional materials about Riga;
•Facilitate international cooperation to promote Riga as a tourism destination;
•Manage the work of three tourism information centres in Riga;
•Facilitate public – private collaboration in tourism industry and improve communication between public and private sectors in tourism industry;
•Create diversified and competitive Riga tourism products in cooperation with private sector enterprises;
•Marketing research and analyses, compilation of tourism statistics to draw conclusions and develop future action plans;
•Organize marketing seminars and forums for tourism professionals;
•Establish and maintain the official Riga city tourism website www.LiveRiga.com and on-line sales platform on this website

Target group of the organization: Tourists, mainly from other European countries.
Company culture: The company culture is rather informal.
Number of employees: 9
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 department. Occasionally I helped PR department with some tasks as well.
Brief description of your daily activities: • Coordinating the tasks and activities with social media agency and advertisement agency.
• Participate in advertising campaign planning and execution.
• Organizing programs for press trips and participating in destination presentations for international media and tour operators.
• Developing content for the website and social media.
Brief description of your company assignment: The company assignment was to conduct a research to find out what kind of tourism products tourists are looking for, that could be promoted and sold on the official tourism webpage.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: I had a good supervision but I also had a lot of my own space and time. I was given the tasks for a period of time and then it was up to me how I structure my work and decide on priorities as long as they are done on time. There was enough amount of feedback as well.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, reliable, social, with an initiative.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Writing skills and Photoshop can be useful but not needed. Definitely MS Office.
English: Intermediate
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages: Latvian – mother tongue or Advanced.

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane. 2h flight from the Netherlands.

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Myself through Facebook groups.
How did you go to work every day? By foot. I lived 20 min walk away from the office.

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? Yes
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? If you are not a Latvian, definitely.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 200 eur (Flights from Eindhoven with Wizzair).
Accommodation (monthly): € 160 eur per month for a room in 4 room apartment in the center (I was lucky). Normally it is between 200-300 eur.
Local transport (monthly): € 50 eur for a monthly pass. One ride costs 1.15 eur
General costs of living (monthly): € 400 – 500 eur (including housing). Eating outside can vary from 3-10 eur for a decent meal. A pint of beer will cost you around 2.5 eur. Prices in supermarkets are rather similar to prices in NL.
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? There was no compensation agreed on but at the end of the placement I received some bonus for the copy-writing I did for the companies webpage.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
As originally I come from Latvia I did not prepare but after living in the Netherlands I still had some sort of culture shock.
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: solveiga.kreslina@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Latvia is a beautiful country. It is not that hard to get along with locals. Some Latvian knowledge can be helpful but to work in the office you might need to speak fluent Latvian. Latvians in general are friendly but sometimes can seem too depressive. That can be explained with not that great economical situation in the country. Also there are many Russians living in Latvia but Latvian is the official language of the country. Never try to speak Russian with a Latvian if you are a foreigner. That is considered to be offensive.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: The placement took place in the heart of Riga’s Old town. That is one of the main tourist attractions in the city. It is know not only for the historical heritage but also nightlife opportunities. Just outside of the Old town is the amazing Art Nouveau district and one of the hippest places in town – Miera area. Next to tre Old town is a train and bus station and within 30 min you can be at the coast and enjoy yourself at the beach or in the middle of the forest. Nature is great there!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link