Golden Express Tours

Placement organization

Name of organization: Golden Express Tours
Town/city: Yangon
Country: Myanmar
Website: http://www.goldenexpresstours.com

Name of student: Gwen Neijgh van Lier

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Golden express tours offers multiple types of products and services. They provide package tours, short trips, day tours. But one can also book bus tickets, train tickers, domestic airline tickets, rent cars and purchase cruise trips. As a special offer they provided balloon flights over the Bagan temples..
Target group of the organization: Whoever is interested online and offline
Company culture: In the main office in Yangon (were my placement was conducted) there work about 20 people. There are two more branch offices in Myanmar and there are some staff working outside of the office. At the main office in Yangon the head of the company is the Managing director, underneath him works the Executive Director, Mr Kaung Set Zaw (he was also my company supervisor) underneath him work all the different office departments like sales, reservations, a department for the car rental, one for the bus and train tickets, accounting department etc. They all work on the same level but just in different departments in the company. The company atmosphere is informal but business oriented, which means dress code is business casual, the staff is open and friendly towards each other and clients are handled with professionalism and respect.

Number of employees: 80
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 currently working in a combination of departments, since the office is not to big this is perfectly manageable, teaches me a lot and I can show my skills in different ways.I am working in the general department, marketing department and the sustainability department.
Brief description of your daily activities: Regarding my daily activities there is a variety, and most of the activities work towards a final a bigger assignments . I would like to break down my placement in four periods;
1. 27 February – 7 March: study and prepare for ITB in Berlin
2. 7-12 March: help and work at ITB Berlin
3. 13-19 March: follow up ITB work
4. 20 March – 16 July: Work in office, Yangon
For the biggest period I will of course be working the in main office in Yangon. My daily tasks will be
– Market research
Europe (Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Switzerland)
Scandinavian Countries,
UK,
US markets.
– Contributing ideas to management
– Researching ‘’Travel life’’
– Obtaining the Travelife partnership level (Company assignment 1)
– Trying to find out how the company can achieve the partnership with travel life
-Brainstorming and researching a potential new twist regarding the ‘’local product’’. Which would have some competitive advantage
– Working on a marketing assignment that researched the possibilities in the marketing platforms, target markets and marketing tools as possible tools for Golden express tours (Company assignment 2)

Brief description of your company assignment: For the company assignment the easiest way to describe and illustrate my assignment is by dividing it into two separate assignments.
1. Obtaining the Travelife partnership level and becoming a more sustainable organisation.

The problem can be described as ‘’Golden express tours is missing the competitor advantage of a sustainable certificate from Travelife to compete in the sustainable tourism market of Myanmar.’’ The research goal would be; To obtain the sustainable certificate from Travelife in order to be able to compete in the sustainable tourism market of Myanmar. I was working on this through analyzing and answering the requirements for travelife, participating in the travelife workshops and teaching the staff member that will pick up the project after I leave my placement.

2. Working on a marketing assignment that researched the possibilities in the marketing platforms, target markets and marketing tools as possible tools for Golden express tours.

Doing marketing research to understand the target market and researching the marketing strategy and tools best to be used. With a final advise on the positioning, targeting, segmentation and a overall marketing strategy.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Whenever I had questions,remarks or suggestion these were always received with great pleasure and my supervisor was always keen to help. In the beginning I was a little hesitant but I soon discovered that if you just ask that you will get more answers much faster. He will not come to your desk to ask how you are doing and if you need anything, that is your own initiative, which is of course not more than normal.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent worker, flexible, creative with solutions and showing initiative.
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS office skills
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: By airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Arranged by the company
How did you go to work every day? By foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, business visa (10 weeks) + Tourist visa for final month
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Through the online evisa website of Myanmar and help from the office with supplying the necessary documents.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? From the company: 4 working days, from evisa application online: 3 working days
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? If you are very motivated and have enough time it is always nice to know the local language.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € €705,- return ticker with Thai Airways
Accommodation (monthly): € – (paid the company)
Local transport (monthly): € –
General costs of living (monthly): € €250 (incl extra’s and trips, big budget)
Costs of visa: € €65 (1 visa)
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? They paid the transportation to the ITB in Berlin, they paid for the accommodation, they paid for meal compensation during the ITB in Berlin and I received an additional €275 per month for the months I was in Yangon (so not from the start).

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I tried to research as much as possible about the culture, read articles, travel books and some documentaries.
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: 130737@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Do: Engage with local life, be open, be flexible and be able to adapt at any moment. Engage in local traditions, culture and visit religious sites (e.g. Buddhist temples)

Don’t: Dress inappropriately, get drunk, as a girl walk around alone at night, be rude, disrespect the culture / Buddhism
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: You can go to the Gym (including swimming pool), stroll around the old streets and neighborhoods, visit different tourist spots (circular train, Buddhist sites), visit one of the local shopping mall stroll around china town.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link