Colourful Ecuador Travels

Placement organization

Name of organization: Colourful Ecuador Travels
Town/city: Quito
Country: Ecuador
Website: http://cetravels.com/

Student

Name of student: Hester Linssen

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

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: DMC
Organization’s activities: B2B, specialized in creating tours around Ecuador and the Galapagos. Organizing volunteer work and Spanish classes.
Target group of the organization: Students, groups, couples
Company culture: Informal
Number of employees: 30
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Product and Experience

Brief description of your daily activities:
Social media posting and research
Organizing welcome cocktails for new students and volunteers
Bringing students to Salsa class or volunteer projects
Translations
Coming up with new ideas for student/volunteer programs
Updating factsheets and creating banners
Updating PowerPoint presentations
Brief description of your company assignment: Executing a complaint analysis for the Experience department

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor is Isabel from the Experience department. She is super helpful and really friendly. She helped me a lot during my internship and always looked after me.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, social, flexible, team player, eager to learn
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, social media/ online marketing knowledge
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Myself, I rented an Airbnb apartment
How did you go to work every day? By foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No, on arrival you get a 90 day visa stamp, then after 90 days you can extend your stay
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? Yes
How long in advance? A few months

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? It’s helpful if you speak some Spanish since most people don’t speak English

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 840
Accommodation (monthly): € 700
Local transport (monthly): € 20, for weekend trips
General costs of living (monthly): € 100?
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? 2 weeks of Spanish classes

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I didn’t
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: 172312@buas.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Wear enough sunscreen, even in Quito since the sun is really strong here.
Watch your belongings
Don’t go out by yourself at night
Be careful in general, it’s a big city
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Go to the Galapagos Islands if possible! Diving here was incredible.

Media