Kapwa Travel

Placement organization

Name of organization: Kapwa Travel
Town/city: Cebu
Country: Filipijnen
Website: http://www.kapwatravel.com

Student

Name of student: Camilla Steen

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2017-2018

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: Tailor made tours in the Philippines, everything from private transfers, domestic flights, privately gudided tours, island hopping, accommodation etc.
Target group of the organization: Mainly people from Australia or Europe with money (not backpackers)
Company culture: Informal.
Number of employees: 10
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Since it is a small business, i was, and had the opportunity to be part of most departments, such as the booking department, marketing department, and sales department.

Brief description of your daily activities: One if my main activities is to create content for the website that drives more traffic and clicks. And to include SEO when writing. I’m doing ocular visits at resorts and partners to ensure the quality, and after a trip i write blog posts about it. I have also done courses in Google analytics, and analysed our data, google search, and HTML. I also work a lot with wordpress and google adwords.
Brief description of your company assignment: For my company assignment, i will write blog posts about travel bloggers who are from the Philippines, or have traveled here, to create traffic to the website, and hopefully for the bloggers to share the articles and create a “buzz”
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor is currently in Germany, but we have skyped almost everyday, and he has been more than helpful. At the office, my supervisors brothers helps me with daily tasks.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Team player, flexible (because of the time difference, leads might only be able to talk at night Filipino time) willingness to learn,
Additional company requirements for this placement? no specific skills, but it helps to be a fast learner.
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? My boyfriend lived here before i did, so i moved into his appartment.
How did you go to work every day? Taxi

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, tourism Visa (since i did not get paid)
Do you need a work permit? no
How did you arrange the necessary documents: You get a 30 day free visa upon entry, and have to extend it at the embassy.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? –
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 1-2 months before.

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, english is fine.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 600-700
Accommodation (monthly): € 250
Local transport (monthly): € 120
General costs of living (monthly): € 300
Costs of visa: € 210
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? I specifically asked not to get any compensation, because i get paid from the Danish Government. But i think the company would be willing to pay a small amount.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
My boyfriend has lived in the Philippines on and off for 2.5 years, so he told me what to expect.
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: 153451@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: The culture in the Philippines is very different, and anyone who is going here is more than welcome to contact me, to get more details on how to behave, and the do’s and don’ts .
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Malls, restaurants, travel (airport nearby) bowling, cinema, sports facilities .. pretty much everything is possible.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link