Malta Tourism Authority

Placement organization

Name of organization: Malta Tourism Authority
Town/city: Valetta
Country: Malta
Website: http://www.mta.com.mt

Student

Name of student: Suzan Huurnink

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tourism Board
Organization’s activities: • To promote and advance Malta as a tourism destination
• To advise Government on tourism operations and to issue licences under the Act
• To contribute toward the improvement of the level of human resources in the tourism industry
• To advise government on the planning and development of the tourism industry as well as on the infrastructure supporting the industry.
Target group of the organization: All tourists visiting Malta, but the source markets are the UK, Italy, Germany, France and Scandinavia.
Company culture: The work environment at the MTA is rather formal. Approval needs to be requested for many things during tasks or assisting clients. However, within your own department, this is slightly less.
Number of employees: approx. 100
Dress code: casual/formal
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? http://www.mta.com.mt/Organisation (organizational chart)
Within the Marketing Departement, there are several segments that work on niche markets such as MICE, diving, history & culture, cruiselining and Gozo.
I worked in the Marketing department, MICE-segment (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events)
Brief description of your daily activities: Answering the phone, updating several Excel sheets to keep track of events/conferences/fairs that are being organized, update online calendar, coordination promotional material for clients.
Brief description of your company assignment: Perform and manage a visitor satisfaction survey of the Fireworks Festival that takes place every year in April. I had to create the questionnaire in multiple languages, manage a small group of people who helped to distribute the questionnaires and was responsible to receiving a certain amount of replies and analyzing the data. The outcome is used to improve future editions of the festival.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Although my supervisor and colleagues were nice, I believe that there was a lack of actual supervision and interest in my company assignment or individual projects. Very rarely there was time to discuss this.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? flexible, stress-proof, independent, creative
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word, Excel, PowerPoint (basic knowledge)
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 through a previous student who did her placement at MTA. The apartment was conveniently located, not to expensive and I shared it with three others, so nice to get to now some people.
How did you go to work every day? By bus

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? No

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? n/a

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 220,00
Accommodation (monthly): € 300,00
Local transport (monthly): € 30,00
General costs of living (monthly): € 350,00
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? EUR 300,00 one time payment

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? I do not think it has had a big influence on my personal performance during the placement; of course you have to take in to consideration that you are working abroad so things might not always be what you expect and sometimes you have to be patient. However, I did not experience any problems due to cultural differences.

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: – Request Maltese ID-card, with this you can buy your bus tickets for the ‘local price’ (tourists pay almost double of what Maltese citizens pay for a ticket)
– The sport complex of the University of Malta is a cheap and quite good place, if you would like to do some sports. (Also includes a swimming pool outside).
– During you placement: Be patient and flexible with regards to the tasks given to you. It is also good to be creative and driven to find tasks to work on. I have also noted that whenever you are not sure of something, it is much better to ask advice then to do what you think is best.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: – Valletta: The waterfront (nice place to have a drink),
– Sliema: Many stores (Zara, Diesel etc), also Tigne Point, which is a large shopping mall.
– Gozo and Comino (the Blue Lagoon), nice for a day trip.
– Eden Cinema: Located in Paceville, they offer many films daily, all in English.
– Spinola Bay and Balluta Bay: Area’s with some nice restaurants.

Media

 
Youtube link Youtube placement video link