Pure! Travel Group

Placement organization

Name of organization: Pure! Travel Group
Town/city: Bogogta
Country: Colombia
Website: https://pure-travelgroup.com/

Student

Name of student: Remko Slootweg

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

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: B2B Travel Operator
Organization’s activities: Selling sustainable travel to companies mainly in Europe. In addition, the search for new sustainable alternatives is always very important to the company. Pure! is not only located in Colombia, but also in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru.
Target group of the organization: Companies in Europe and North-America
Company culture: Everyone is very informal, but you should only take into consideration that not everyone speaks English. Most colleagues do, but there are a few who don’t speak English. There is no particular dress code.
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?

Sales department, operations department and product department.

Brief description of your daily activities: The activities are very different, however, this is often already discussed in the job interview. This can be very different each time.

This was mainly my job:
Search and translate (new hotels).
Writing articles for the company about your experiences on a number of tours.
Writing the newsletter.
Composing and selling trips.

Brief description of your company assignment: For my placement report I described the use of paper in the company. In this report I had to investigate how the company could use less paper and if an app could be a solution.

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: In the beginning you need a lot of help, but after that you work a lot on your own. Due to the corona situation I almost always worked from home, and I worked a lot independently. Everyone is willing to help you!

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Teamplayer, sociable, stress-proof, open to new challenges
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office Word/Excel, Google Drive,
English: Intermediate
German: Basic
Other languages: Dutch, also basic. Spanish is a plus!

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? I did it myself, you can do it on Facebook and AirBNB. Tip: look for something near the office, for example in Cedritos.
How did you go to work every day? By foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes,
Do you need a work permit? Yes
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassy in Amsterdam
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? It took me quite a long time, but it can be arranged in three weeks.
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? I did it 3 weeks before I left, but I already had most of the vaccines. A month in advance should be enough.

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? Yes
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Yes/No, I am fluent in German and Dutch, but it can be useful to learn Spanish beforehand. I didn’t do this personally, but it’s definitely a plus for the company.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 350 for one ticket
Accommodation (monthly): € 260
Local transport (monthly): € Irrelevant
General costs of living (monthly): € 200,- This is really the maximum for groceries e.g. Travel is more expensive in South America.
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Financial compensation.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Nothing special, I haven’t felt unsafe for a moment.
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: remkoslootweg@live.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Stay friendly, ask enough questions and if you don’t know something, the employees are open to help. Keep social and try to meet up with colleagues outside of work, this way you really get to know the Colombian culture! Pure! also often organises a number of activities and it is fun to take part in.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: You can easily come to the center where there are many things to see. The airport is also easily accessible, and from El Dorado Airport you can easily get to other destinations.

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