Asian Trails

Placement organization

Name of organization: Asian Trails
Town/city: Siem Reap & Phnom Penh
Country: Cambodia
Website: http://www.asiantrails.travel

Student

Name of student: Amber Veltman

Specialist area: TM
Placement period: 2018-2019

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Destination Management Company
Organization’s activities: The organization is focused on inbound tourism. Asian Trails offer many kinds of trips. Their services range from tailor-made and wholesale leisure programs, group travel & individual travelers and MICE & corporate travel planning
Target group of the organization: All travelers
Company culture: The employees are very warm, friendly and try to make you feel at home. There is a good alternation between formal and informal dealing with each other but they respect the one above them.
Number of employees: 67
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

During my internship i went to both locations of Asian Trails Cambodia.
In Siem Reap i have been working at the operation department, MICE department and i went some days with the guest relation manager.
In Phnom Penh i have been working at the inbound department.Besides that, i went also on trips and inspections.
This was a unique opportunity to see the entire company

Brief description of your daily activities: Operation Department: Learned how to make a file and arrange the booking when they got a request of a client.
MICE Department: Get insight into the way they arrange a booking. Learned about the contact with the clients, their requirements in comparison with the other tourist and got to practice with documents they send to the clients.
Guest Relation Manager: Went on inspections to the restaurants/hotels, helped when the clients arrived, visit the clients to ask about their trip so far.
Inbound Department: Learn about the bookings and what they hand out to Siem Reap.
Besides that, i have been working on a restaurant database, restaurant picture database, activity database, factsheets of all activities and factsheets of homestays.
Brief description of your company assignment: For my company assignment i had to make a competitors analysis.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: The supervision was sometimes a little bit messy.
In Siem Reap i were guided by the manager and in Phnom Penh by the destination manager.
Sometimes appointments were replaced last minute and you often had to ask if there was another task to do.
On the other hand, this also gave you some freedom to come up with ideas yourself.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Sociable, independent, teamplayer, flexible and creative
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French: Basic
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I have arranged the accommodation by myself through internet
How did you go to work every day? In Siem Reap by bicycle and in Phnom Penh with the passapp (Tuktuk)

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, a 6 month business visa
Do you need a work permit? The business visa is enough
How did you arrange the necessary documents: The company arranged it on arrival
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? I think 3-6 month before your internship, but i had them already.

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): € 800
Accommodation (monthly): € 250
Local transport (monthly): € In Siem Reap 10 and in Phnom Penh 80
General costs of living (monthly): € 350
Costs of visa: € 180
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? They company paid for my visa and the business visa. I also got internship compensation. Besides that, entrance fees, meals at restaurants & transport that were work related and trips.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I already visited some Asian countries before. For Cambodia i read information on internet, blogs and i had contact with students who had been in Cambodia before.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes, sometimes i was hard to communicate because their english level is not always that good

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: ambergenevax@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Accepted the fact that everything is not so good arranged as at home.
Travel through Cambodia to see all sides.
Learn about local culture and friendliness.

*Note- i had a travelblog for friends/family to keep them up-to-date with my experiences (also with tips and recommendations)
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: In Siem Reap you have to see the floating villages and the Angkor Temple complex.
In Phnom Penh you have to take a river sunset cruise, go to one of the many sky bars, visit the clubs, royal palace, learn about the history at the killing fields & S-21 museum and the markets.

Besides that, i went to Koh Rong Samloem (one of the island were the sand is white and the water is blue), Kampot & Kep to explore the nation park and the lay back lifestyle and Mondolkiri to go on adventure in the jungle.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link