Nuevo Mundo Expeditions

Placement organization

Name of organization: Nuevo Mundo Expeditions
Town/city: Quito
Country: Ecuador
Website: http://www.nuevomundoexpeditions.com

Student

Name of student: Julia Engel

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Tailormade luxury tours through Ecuador and Peru
Target group of the organization: High class
Company culture: Since Nuevo Mundo is a family business the atmosphere is very relaxed and there is no real feeling of hierarchy. As an intern you have a lot of freedom, which also means though, at times you have to show a lot of own initiative, ask for work or make suggestions!
Number of employees: 4
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes, though I had to remind them to send me on tours (up until now – beginning of may – I went with them on a day trip to Quito & the Equator, Cotopaxi and Otavalo. A four days trip to the Amazon is planned. I also got a huge discount on Galapagos through our business partner.)

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? No real departments as it is a small family business. Officially marketing, but I was also able to do a lot of operation and reservation tasks.
Brief description of your daily activities: Overhaul and updating of the webpage, formulating tour descriptions, working on general internet presence of NME, bench marketing, competitor analysis, input of data into new reservation system, at times creating tailor-made tours for direct clients, at times reservation of hotels and making quotes, at times white glove service, at times visiting hotels, (resulting from my company assignment → reorganization of the entire internal organization and implementing of new marketing strategy)
Brief description of your company assignment: Marketing Consultancy Report (Internal analysis of NME, SWOT, Advisory)
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Everyone in the company is really friendly and you can ask them literally everything! You even get encouraged to be curious and bring on new ideas. Like mentioned before, you will have a lot of freedom. This is nice since it gives you a lot of time to write on the assignments. Oswaldo will always go together with you over the stuff you wrote and help you out when you need help. On the other hand you really need to show own initiative! Especially when it is busy they at times, forget to give you tasks and you have to ask. You can also propose yourself what you would like to work on. In any case, it is no problem to honestly talk to Oswaldo or Julieta (e.g. when you need more time to write on your assignments or you feel like you are not doing enough day-to-day business/ daily tasks)

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? outgoing, independent, sociable, creative, not afraid to ask for work or make own proposals, persistent at times
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word, Internet
English: Advanced
Spanish: Intermediate
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? NME arranged an accommodation for me for the first month (I had my own room and bathroom in the apartment of an adorable, Ecuadorian couple in their 70s. Very good located and in a safe neighborhood.). I liked it so much there that I stayed there for the entire time. I would have been able to move, though, whenever I would have wanted to.
How did you go to work every day? public bus (US$ 0.25)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes ( 12- IX / practicas y turismo )
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? 1 month (to gather necessary documents) + 2 weeks (getting visa) → I would calculate about 2 month maybe… just to spare you the stress…
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes

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? .

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1100,00
Accommodation (monthly): € USD 450,00 incl. all meals
Local transport (monthly): € USD 10,00
General costs of living (monthly): € USD 250,00 per month but we travelled every weekend!
Costs of visa: € 220,00
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Free Tours (I went to 3 free day trips and a 4 day trip to the Amazon is planned. I got a huge discount on Galapagos)

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? In general not. Sometimes though, you really have to be persistent and ask a couple of times. In general NME has a very European way of working.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 110538@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Try to see as much of the county as possible! Ecuador is a small country and transportation is cheap, so it gives you tones of opportunities to go on short trips from Quito! There is a fair amount of NHTV placement offers in Quito, so get in contact with other NHTV students and travel around as much as you can! Go to the Black Sheep Inn Eco-lodge! (Ask Julieta about it) It is one of my favorite places!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Countless, seriously… you can do everything in this city & surrounding!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link