Asian Hertiage Treks & Expeditions, Tours and Travels

Placement organization

Name of organization: Asian Hertiage Treks & Expeditions, Tours and Travels
Town/city: Kathmandu
Country: Nepal
Website: http://www.asianheritagetreks.com

Student

Name of student: Leon Hoogduin

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2018-2019

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator / Travel agency
Organization’s activities: The company offers a wide range of tours and treks in Nepal, Bhutan, India and Tibet. They create custom made trips for their (mostly European) target group and offer set tour packages. Furthermore, they operate with their sister company, Asian Heritage Travel, which is located in the Netherlands and offers tours throughout central and south east Asia.
Target group of the organization: middle class Europena tourists. However, they don’t have a clear target group since they target all tourists coming to Nepal
Company culture: The Company culture is quite relaxed. The team leader (also the boss) is in charge and most of the decisions have to be discussed with him but responsibility and initiative of the intern are highly appreciated.
The Nepalese working environment is relaxed and although they work a lot and make long days, one does not have to work too much for what their capable of or to a point which causes stress.
The clothing standard is casual (smart) but not very strict (long pants and sweater is okay, short pants is not).
Number of employees: 15
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 & Marketing
Sustainability assistant
website management

Brief description of your daily activities: The daily activities consist of updating the website content, replying on travel inquiries, social media marketing management, assisting in technical support and creating blogs and other content for the website.
Brief description of your company assignment: The company assignment is obtaining Travelife Certified. The previous intern obtained Travelife Partner and my assignment was to proceed in this process and obtain the next and final reward. The activities done for the assignment consist of planning and reporting, implementing the changes needed for the award and creating ways to implement the criteria.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: As an intern you need to be pro-active and able to work independently. The company supervision is quite low so the intern should be able to handle this. The supervisor will not ask how the work is going on a regular basis so te student needs to be able to communicate from their own initiative and take the leading part in conversations related to the work of the intern.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independant, flexible and pro-active
Additional company requirements for this placement? Seo, english writing skills
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? I arranged my accommodation myself (hostel and apartment). The company offered an apartment but for a high price.
How did you go to work every day? Walking/ cycling

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, you need a tourist visa
Do you need a work permit? no
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Consulate in the Netherlands / extension at the immigration office in Kathmandu
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 15 min in NL/ 3 hours in NP
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 1 month

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? always a plus but not a necessity

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € €750 return ticket
Accommodation (monthly): € €120
Local transport (monthly): € 50
General costs of living (monthly): € 300
Costs of visa: € 250
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? They offer the intern one of their treks or tours as compensation.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I read about the culture, talked to friends who visited the country and watched video’s about the culture.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes, the relaxed athmosphere of the culture creates a more relaxed working environment, which inlfuences your performance.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: leonhoogduin97@gmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: In Nepal you can do almost everything. Make sure to enjoy your time in and around work. Don’t hesitate to ask what you want to know to anyone in the company. Make clear arrangements of holidays and working hours because in Nepal they are not that strict when it comes to this.
Be respectful and nice to everybody, that way you can do no wrong in Nepal.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Kathmandu has plenty to offer, lots of restaurants, bars, cafe’s etc.
Not many sports facility apart from a view gyms, tennis courts and futsal courts.
lots of temples and cultural sites to visit around Kathmandu
Since Kathmandu is surrounded by mountains there is plenty to do in the weekend, mountain biking, hiking or just visiting surrounding area’s are just a view examples.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link