Tromsø Safari

Placement organization

Name of organization: Tromsø Safari
Town/city: Tromsø
Country: Noorwegen
Website: http://tromsosafari.no

Name of student: Iris Sijm

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2016-2017

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: activity provider
Organization’s activities: The organization arranges different activites for the tourists to enjoy. These are in the winter activies like husky sledding, reindeer feeding, and whalewatching. In summer the activities include hikes, boat trips and fjord tours. The activities are handled by Tromsø Safari from start to finish.
Target group of the organization: European and Asian travellers
Company culture: The athmosphere in the company is calm and happy. People are always in for a little joke and always have time for your questions and ideas. This means it is not very formal, and the hierarchy is not so visible.
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? Sales and Marketing, Digital Marketing, and Direct Sales
Brief description of your daily activities: The tasks that I will do during the internship are:
• Sales products at hospitality desk: This means that I will sell the different activities via email bookings as well as face-to-face bookings. It also includes providing information about the activities.
• Quality check of providers and activities: For this activity I will join the activities as a ‘mystery guest’ and upon return I will write a feedback report.
• Marketing strategy: I will help implementing the current marketing strategy and work on a new strategy, as I will join Tromsø Safari in a period in which the marketing strategy ends and a new one begins. This contains:
o Creating and posting content on different social media platforms (Facebook, Intsagram, Pinterest etc.) and implementing the findings of my assignment (see underneath)
o Categorize pictures that are to be used for marketing in a way that the right picture is easy to find
o Brain storm with Arne ter Mors and Oda Kvaal-Tanguay on the marketing strategy towards FIT’s and towards tour operators and create the strategy for that.
• Interview guests: I will interview guests for their feedback and opinions about their experiences with Tromsø Safari
• Helping with bookings: getting to know the booking systems and the whole process from possible customer to a happy customer that had a great experience

Brief description of your company assignment: The assignment I will do for Tromsø Safari is a competitor analysis focussing on how the competitors use digital tools* and how Tromsø Safari can stand out between these competitors. The questions that I will answer are:
• Who are the biggest competitors?
• How do the competitors use digital tools and is this efficient?
• How does Tromsø Safari make use of digital tools?
• Can Tromsø Safari learn from their competitors in the field of use of digital tools?

*= with digital tools is meant social media, Tripadvisor and apps

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor in the company was very kind and willing to help. She also helped me with planning what to do on a day. Furthermore, she let me kind of free to discover things myself too. I really appreciate this.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Social, Flexible, Independent, Fast-learning.
Additional company requirements for this placement? CityBreak,
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? A website called finn.no
How did you go to work every day? by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? no
Do you need a work permit? Approval from the police that you can stay longer than 3 months, and you need to get a D-number from the taxoffice
How did you arrange the necessary documents: I went to the police office and to the taxoffice in town.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? I got it all in 1 day
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): € 300
Accommodation (monthly): € 600
Local transport (monthly): € –
General costs of living (monthly): € 200
Costs of visa: € –
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? I received 1000NOK per week. This equals (roughly) 440 Euros per month

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Not, I went there with an open mind like I always do.
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: iris_sijm@yahoo.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Do not think too much about how expensive everything is. Just enjoy every moment! A thing that i really liked to do is join some friends who had a car on a daytrip to the nicest fjords in the area. This is also cheap and you are with good friends.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There is so much nature in the area. Make use of that! go for hikes, ski-trips, road-trips. Go wild camping. Join the husky safari, whale safari, etc!

In town it is really nice to enjoy some hot chocolate in the cold arctic weather. I also really enjoyed to go up the cable car, Fjellheisen. There you have the most beautiful view. Be aware that it is slippery and icey there.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link