Andean Travel Company

Placement organization

Name of organization: Andean Travel Company
Town/city: Quito
Country: Ecuador
Website: https://andeantc.com/

Student

Name of student: Famke Slüter

Specialist area: Tourism Management (EN)
Placement period: 2019-2020

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: DMC
Organization’s activities: Andean Travel Company is a comprehensive Destination Management Company for Ecuador & Galapagos. Offering business-to-business travel services, Inspired by South America’s natural and cultural treasures and its warm-hearted people. Andean Travel Company offers quality tours throughout Ecuador & Galapagos, Peru, Bolivia and Chile emphasizing the safety and wishes of clients as well as respect towards local lifestyles, cultures and the natural environment.
Target group of the organization: B2B
Company culture: The company culture is informal. Every last Friday of the month the birthdays of that month from all the employees are being celebrated.
Number of employees: 50
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 and marketing

Brief description of your daily activities:
– Assistance with the creation of quotes and itineraries
– Proofreading and basic content creation
– Market research
– Database fill in

Brief description of your company assignment: A market research study into the sports tourism market. The aim of the study is to determine if sports tourism would be an interesting niche target for ATC to purchase

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: You work independently but when in need of assistance you can always reach out to your colleagues who are more than willing to help.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, sociable, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? SEO
English: Advanced
Spanish: Intermediate

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Company
How did you go to work every day? I live in the office

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, but after your first 3 months in Ecuador, I still need to go to the embassy
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassy
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 2 weeks
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? a 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? Yes

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 750
Accommodation (monthly): € 0
Local transport (monthly): € 100
General costs of living (monthly): € 100
Costs of visa: € 130
Costs of work permit: € x
What did the company pay for/to you? Accommodation, Lunch and a Financial compensation of USD200 per month

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
By reading about the country and culture online and by doing research into the safety in Ecuador and how to protect yourself.
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: famkesluter@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: You need to be prepared for really working every day from 8 till 5, with hardly having any conversation and online sitting behind your desk and looking at your screen. But you can work completely independently and you will learn a lot.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Pub quizzes, cinemas, local food, shopping malls, climbing halls, swimming pools, a historic center offering many sightseeings and because you will live in the capital city it is easy to travel around in Ecuador and this beautiful country. From the Amazon to the Andes to the Coast and Galapagos.

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