Gulliver Expeditions

Placement organization

Name of organization: Gulliver Expeditions
Town/city: Quito
Country: Ecuador
Website: https://gulliver.com.ec/

Student

Name of student: Slavena Perchemlieva

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

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Creating unique tours in Ecuador, Galapagos, Peru and Bolivia. Specialized in adventure travel and activities like mountain climbing, horseback riding, rafting etc.
Target group of the organization: Families with children; solo travelers; luxury travelers
Company culture: The general atmosphere in the company is very informal and all the employees are outgoing and friendly. When it comes to the company culture itself, there is a bit more of a hierarchy structure within the company and main decisions are made by the managers of the departments and then the owner
Number of employees: Around 20
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Marketing and Operations

Brief description of your daily activities: Marketing: SEO, creating and updating a file for the buyer persona of the company, designing posters and brochures for the website, blog writing, updating and fixing issues on the website

Operations (less work because I was made part of the team later): translating certain information from Spanish to English and the other way around; mainly working with the program TourWriter and updating information for itineraries, suppliers and guides, calculating prices + commission

Brief description of your company assignment: Competitor analysis

Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor was very friendly and easy going, helped me a lot with things I had questions about and also the new programs I learned to work with. He gave me lots of space for my creativity and the freedom to do tasks with my own pace.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, team player, sociable, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, Basic SEO, Photoshop/Illustrator and WordPress skills and
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? The company arranges the accommodation
How did you go to work every day? by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? You can use a tourist visa and extend it before the 90th day of your stay in Ecuador; student visa is also possible
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?

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, it would be an advantage to have some basic Spanish knowledge

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 850
Accommodation (monthly): € –
Local transport (monthly): € 10-15
General costs of living (monthly): € 150-200
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? The company paid for the lunch on Fridays, accommodation and some other extra activities

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I just read a bit about the company and the country in general like food, places to visit, the people etc.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Not at all, the culture and the people are easy going so no negative impact

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: A big advantage of the country is that the transport, accommodations etc. are cheap so you should travel as much as possible. You can do small trips over the weekend with no problem.
When it comes to money, like I said it’s cheap, so you won’t spend a lot on food even if you go out or eat at home. There are some nice restaurants around the company so you can eat there.
Be careful with your belongings on the public transport and also at night clubs/bars because some places in Quito are known for stealing from the locals.
If you want to meet some more international people, mainly from Europe and US, the bar Finn McCool’s is a place where most of them go.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Visit the old town of Quito, Mitad del Mundo, go up Teleferico with the cable cars. Explore some of the nice restaurants at Plaza Foch and maybe also go out with friends to experience the nightlife.

A bit further than Quito, you can go to many places in the Andes and Amazon. The coast is also amazing, especially during Carnival, there are big parties, nice music and you can have lots of fun with other young people.
It all depends on what you like.

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