Vapues Tours

Placement organization

Name of organization: Vapues Tours
Town/city: Managua
Country: Nicaragua
Website: http://www.vapuestours.com

Student

Name of student: Rianne Koopman

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Providing tours and products of Nicaragua for kuoni or other big operators
Target group of the organization: FIT and big Tour operators
Company culture: Everyone treats each other the same and with respect.My position as a student was to help people out with some problems or work activities and had my own tasks as well.
Number of employees: 16
Dress code: casual and formal. You can’t walk around in short shorts or skirts and extravagant tops. They are conservative here.
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Marketing, operations, contactibility, human resources and development of company
I worked in the Marketing department
Brief description of your daily activities: Product development, Selling advertisement spaces, contacting providers, Developing websites, setting up a new product
Brief description of your company assignment: I am setting up a new product which needs a marketing plan which is my assignment
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Is good, can ask a lot of questions and help you out very well when your stuck with work

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Teamplayer, sociable, representable, independent, taking initiative
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word, Excel, Powerpoint, internet
English: Advanced
Spanish: Advanced
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Company and myself
How did you go to work every day? Foot, taxi and bus

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No only refresh it after 3 months makes sure you already booked a ticket to Costa Rica to show the airlines this
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Not much only ESTA visa for America
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes

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 is possible

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1000,00
Accommodation (monthly): € 230,00
Local transport (monthly): € 50,00 (only for work otherwise taxi is around 10 and busses to other places not expensive)
General costs of living (monthly): € 100,00
How long in advance did you apply for visa 3 to 4 months
Costs of visa: € when arrived in Managua 10 euros after 3 months 60 dollars for 3 months extra or cross the boarder for 10 dollars to costa rica
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Lunch, visits to hotels, trips or free tours

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? No, you get the know the culture even better when having contact with the colleagues in the company.

Future students on placement

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

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Be social in Company, don’t be to naïve and scared for in Nicaragua it is a great country
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: There is a lot to do in Nicaragua, climbing volcanoes, visit markets but also go out for dinner as cheap and still good as possible. You will not be bored. Contact me if you want to know more about Nicaragua

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link