METS Travel & Tours

Placement organization

Name of organization: METS Travel & Tours
Town/city: Paramaribo
Country: Suriname
Website: http://mets.sr

Name of student: Teun van Veghel

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Touroperator
Organization’s activities: METS basically is a inbound & outbound touroperator. Their Outbound departement provides tours and cruises for Miami, Orlando, the Carribean etc. while their regular Sales departement is in charge over the destinations within Suriname. They also provide smaller 1 or 2 day tours from external touroperators
Target group of the organization: Dutch, German for inbound and Surinamese for Outbound
Company culture: The company culture with the director is quite formal and you can notice that there is a certain sense of hierarchy, but with your colleagues it is very informal and fun. I really liked the colleagues that were working there and got along very well.
Number of employees: 10
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes, and I also got to go on a trip to Palumeu.

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I am working in the Sales & Marketing departement.
Brief description of your daily activities: The Sales & Marketing basically includes that you are responsible of Social Media channels and the promotion of the METS. Together with my supervisor, I think of new ways to promote the company and possibilities to further increase our Sales.

Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment will be a startup of a promotional plan and guideline for the company. I am going to research on weak promotion and where it needs to be improved and then set-up a long-term plan in order to ensure consistent and qualitative promotional activities.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The organization is nice to work in, but you do need a very pro-active attitude in order to keep yourself at work. In the beginning it can be quite hard to keep yourself busy and you might not know what to do exactly, but as the time progresses you will get more work and responsibilities. But also don’t forget to ask for work, otherwise you’ll end up being very bored!

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Flexible, Helpful, Hard-working, Pro-active
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, Excel skills are especially handy!
English: Basic
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane, flight to Paramaribo

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I arranged accomodation trough Studentenhuisvesting Suriname.
How did you go to work every day? By foot, I walked 10 min

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, you do need a MKV
Do you need a work permit? Yes, the MKV. However, I didn’t have time to request this so I travelled on a Tourist Card
How did you arrange the necessary documents: At the border I bought a tourist card which you can extend up to 90 days and after you need to cross the border with French Guyana and get another Tourist Card.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? For Yellow Fever, you need at least 10 days before departure

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, not if you’re Dutch since the official language is Dutch.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 850-900€
Accommodation (monthly): € 260€
Local transport (monthly): € 0€
General costs of living (monthly): € 300€
Costs of visa: € 60€, since I bought 2 tourist cards which is the non-official way.
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? I received 150 USD per month as a financial compensation and got to go on 1 trip.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not, I had very little time to prepare so I just went to Suriname.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? You can notice that people definitely are more relaxed and the work speed might be a bit lower than what you would expect in the Netherlands.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 141133@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Do:
– Go on multiple trips in Suriname, see as much as you can because its definitely worth it! SU4You is a very handy touroperator for interns in Suriname that offers a lot of trips, so check them out and you’ll get the best overview.
– Taste all the food possible, for the best Indonesian food go to Blauwgrond area and eat at one of the Warungs. For other nice restaurants you can go to: Zus & Zo, de Waag, Souposo, Bar Zuid and many more! When working at METS, across the street you can find Madonna restaurant or Moti and they have a lot of nice food as well which you can eat during lunch. Roti’s you can find at Roopram or Joosje.
– Definitely make sure you have airconditioning in your room, its a must!! Also, its nicer if you live in a studenthouse which is closer to the centre so don’t go for one thats very far away.
– Always take a taxi wherever you go! If its for short rides, you’ll only pay 7 or 8 SRD which is maybe 1 euro. During the day there is no problem in walking, since I also walked to the office. But when it’s dark, it’s not safe to go out on the streets anymore by foot or bike!

Don’t:
– Like I said, don’t walk or cycle when it’s dark since it can be dangerous and thiefs know that interns always have a cellphone or something with them.
– Make sure you lock the doors and check the house before you leave! Suriname is not a dangerous country, but you just need to check everything very carefully since there are many thiefs around.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: In the city you can go to:
-Palmentuin park, to chill or hang out
-Waterkant, to eat something or chill by the water. However, at night it can be a little scary so I wouldnt recommend it in the dark.
– Fort Zeelandia, to check and see the fort.
– The Zoo, to see the animals

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link