EF Cultural Tours

Placement organization

Name of organization: EF Cultural Tours
Town/city: Sydney
Country: Australië
Website:

Student

Name of student: Patrice Vialon
Specialist area: Tourism Management (EN)
Placement period: 2018-2019

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: Book activities, transportation, accommodation and all other components for each tour, keep in touch with suppliers and process invoices.
Target group of the organization: American & Canadian; Educational Tours: Teachers & Students; Ultimate Break: Millennials; Go Ahead Tours: 50+ aged travellers
Company culture: It is very informal. We do not have to dress in business attire and everything is very laid back. Everyone arrives to the office between 9-10am and we often go out for lunch or workouts in the park together. After work we enjoy drinks and social events. There is always a good atmosphere with the radio playing (people sometimes even sing along), group coffee runs in the morning, farewell drinks or birthday celebrations and sometimes one of the others even brings in brownies or other treats.
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?

EF Cultural Tours

Brief description of your daily activities: – Daily contact with suppliers & Tour Directors
– Make bookings with suppliers.
– Send supplier updates.
– Proces invoices.
– Process on-tour evaluations.
– Supplier meetings.
Brief description of your company assignment: EF is planning a change in their Education Tour-offering in the South pacific, so I am doing a competitor analysis, designing and processing a questionnaire for tour directors and writing a recommendation for the responsible department.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Always happy to help and chat about everything. Very supportive.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? sociable, flexible, open, independent
Additional company requirements for this placement? Communication and writing skills, basic knowledge of Excel
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? Flatmates.au
How did you go to work every day? By foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, Working Holiday Visa
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: By myself
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 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? If you do not speak and understand English that well yes, but if you follow the English track you are fine.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket):
Accommodation (monthly): € 800
Local transport (monthly): € 50
General costs of living (monthly): € 550
Costs of visa: € 300
Costs of work permit: –
What did the company pay for/to you? Round trip airfare.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Not at all, Australians are pretty open and chill. You will meet many internationals anyways, so there is never anything too Australian.
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: patricevialon@gmx.de

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Try to use the time here as much as possible and see all the great places and things Australia has to offer!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Daily workouts in the park next door, beaches, escape rooms, costal walks & hikes, cinema, opera, etc.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link