B. A. (Tourism Industry) International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University Tel: + 66 (0) 2 1601200 Fax: +66 (0) 2 1601199 www.ssruic.com 1

A Report on Observation Tour of Temple & Grand Palace Tour, Khong Tour, Temples in Bangkok Tour and

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market Tour (Aug 16th - 25th , 2012 )

Introduction

An Operations Department is one of the most important parts of every tour company which operates a tour for clients from different regions worldwide. Without the operations department a tour company cannot even run the company because there will be no department to create the tours for clients. Moreover, the tour companies that don’t operate the tours by themselves are just called the travel agents not a tour company at all. Therefore, the Operations Department is just like the heart of the Tour Company or Tour Operator Company.

Regarding my internship with Pacific World (Thailand) Ltd. as a trainee student of the Operations Department for 3 months, I can say exactly that I extremely learned a lot of things that I didn’t think I could experience them from my classes or even from anywhere else because the department is separated into many branches for instance, transfer, fleet, vehicle assignment, excursion, roundtrip and document branches. So, I had a nice chance to experience many interesting and different tasks every day of my working hours. As my statement above about the important of the Operations Department which meant that I have worked with the core part of the Pacific World (Thailand) Ltd and I got to know the working procedures of the department and how the department launched its tasks successfully.

Amazingly, at the end of my internship period I could have a wonderful opportunity to experience and observe tours of the company which were half-day and full-day tours in Bangkok and Damnoen Saduak floating market and others. Furthermore, my internship has not been very successful, fruitful and effective like this without the kindly opportunity offered by the Operations supervisor and staffs. I would not have a chance to experience how the real tourist guides from different languages ran and took responsibilities on their works without the department supports. Finally I didn’t know how I can explain my appreciations and gratefulness on every support that the department nicely gave me; however, I would abide by the rules and policies of the company as well as try to do my best on every job that I was assigned to boost the department’s and the company’s works in return.

B. A. (Tourism Industry) International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University Tel: + 66 (0) 2 1601200 Fax: +66 (0) 2 1601199 www.ssruic.com 2

Objectives of the Observation Tour

i) To observe and experience the working characteristics, techniques and styles of each tourist guide. ii) To learn about the working procedures and processes of a tourist guides from different languages. iii) To get to know about the routings and the tourist attractions of each tour program. iv) To have an opportunity to experience new working environments, meet new interesting people from tourist attraction sites and build a good relationship with the local suppliers. v) To have a chance to confront the problems and to get to know how to solve each different problem. vi) To share the working experiences with tourist guides as I am a tourism student who is looking forward to being a tourist guide in the near future. Observation Tour No. Date Guide / Sites Time Program

1 Aug15 , 2012 G.Somphop/ the

temple of the

Emerald Buddha

,Grand Palace &

Chaophaya River

08.00hrs.

08.10hrs

08.30hrs.

09.30hrs.

10.30hrs.

10.40hrs.

11.30hrs.

12.45hrs.

12.50hrs.

13.10hrs.

14.30hrs.

At Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel

Depart for the temple of the Emerald

Buddha or and Grand Palace

Arrive at the Emerald Buddha temple

Visit the Grand Palace

Depart for the Reclining Buddha temple

Arrive at the Reclining Buddha temple

Depart for Tha Tien Pier to take Khong

Tour

Arrive at Chatrium Hotel

Depart for River City Pier

Arrive at the pier and go back to the

office

Arrive at the office with safety

2 Aug17 , 2012 G.Somphop/ Local

Market (Talad

Romhoop) , Orchid

Farm, Damnoen

Saduak floating

06.50hrs.

07.00hrs.

08.30hrs.

09.00hrs.

09.20hrs.

At Aloft Hotel, Sukhumvit soi 11

Depart for local market in Samut Sakhon

Arrive at the local market

Depart for Orchid Farm

Arrive at the Orchid Farm

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market, Rose

Garden and

Suvarnabhumi

Airport

09.45hrs.

10.00hrs.

11.30hrs.

12.45hrs.

14.15hrs.

15.50hrs.

16.00hrs.

16.05hrs.

18.30hrs.

18.50hrs.

21.45hrs.

22.00hrs.

Depart for Damnoen Saduak Floating

Market

Arrive at the Floating Market

Depart for Rose Garden to have lunch

Arrive at the Rose Garden

Depart for Suvarnabhumi Airport

Arrive at the Airport

G. take care of guest to depart for Phuket

At the first floor, gate 4 with airport

representatives

Welcome guests of flight no.TG288 and

take guests to the van by my own self

Wait for the VIP guests of flight 3K515

that would land at 18.10 hrs. but the flight

delayed then I needed to wait the guests

The guests from flight 3K515 already

took van

Get back to my home

3 Aug19 , 2012 G.IM/ the Orchid

Farm and Damnoen

Saduak floating

market Floating

Market

06.00hrs.

06.30hrs.

06.40hrs.

06.50hrs.

07.10hrs.

07.30hrs.

08.15hrs.

08.45hrs.

09.00hrs.

11.05hrs.

11.15hrs.

11.45hrs.

12.50hrs.

At Baiyok Sky Hotel

Depart for the Century Park Hotel

Arrive at the Century Park Hotel

Depart for Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel

Arrive at Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel

Depart for Orchid Farm

Arrive at the Orchid Farm

Depart for Damnoen Saduak Floating

Market

Arrive at the Floating Market

Depart for RTC, Carving Wood Shop

Arrive at the RTC shop

Depart for Bangkok

Arrive in Bangkok

B. A. (Tourism Industry) International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University Tel: + 66 (0) 2 1601200 Fax: +66 (0) 2 1601199 www.ssruic.com 4

13.15hrs.

13.45hrs.

13.50hrs.

At Royal Orchid Sheraton, the first drop

off for guests

At Baiyok Sky Hotel

Get back to my home

4 Aug25 , 2012 G.Buncha/ the

Golden Buddha, the

reclining Buddha,

Marble temples and

Gems Gallery

07.30hrs

08.15hrs.

08.20hrs.

08.25hrs.

08.30hrs.

09.00hrs.

09.30hrs.

10.05hrs.

10.30hrs.

10.45hrs.

11.00hrs.

12.05hrs.

13.30hrs.

14.00hrs.

At Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel

Depart for Grand China Princess Hotel

Arrive at Grand China Princess Hotel

Depart for the Golden Buddha Temple

Arrive at the Golden Buddha Temple

Depart for the Reclining Buddha Temple

At the Reclining Buddha Temple

Depart for the Marble Temple

At the Marble Temple

Depart for Gems Gallery

Arrive at Gems Gallery

Escort the guest to Royal Orchid Sheraton

Hotel by my own self

Arrive at the Hotel

Get back to my home

Problems and Solutions As far as I am concerned, I have experienced the problems every day of my observation as the following statements. For the first day, I had the difficulty about the language when I observed the Emerald Buddha temple and Grand palace and Khong tours that led by a German tourist guide. I have not experience the German before therefore, I was really confused about the guide’s interpretation and explanation. However, I tried to solve the problem by paying my attention of the guide’s body languages and tried to guess about what the guide saying were. Surprisingly my language problem gave me an idea that Thai, English and Basic Japanese were not enough for me to work in the tourism field at all. I still really need to learn more languages. Therefore, when I have time I will not hesitate to get to know new languages. Additionally the last problem for the first day was about the guide took the wrong boat to run Khong Tour therefore, all tourists had to get off the first boat that they took then waited for the right boat to pick them up. Fortunately it took only 10 minutes to wait for

B. A. (Tourism Industry) International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University Tel: + 66 (0) 2 1601200 Fax: +66 (0) 2 1601199 www.ssruic.com 5

the right boat. For the solution of this problem, I personally thought that first of all the guide needs to make sure that he takes the tourists to the right boat before letting the tourists get in the boat by asking about the name of the boat, service of the boat, and the destination of the boat or maybe the guide can try to contact the Operations office to be sure about the boat supplier because sometimes the tourists might be upset with the guide’s errors. Concerning to second day, there was a few problems which were the vomit of tourist that I could experience on the way back to Bangkok therefore, the tourist guide could solve this problem very well by providing that tourist some liquid medicine, Thai herb as well as cold tower in order to relieve the vomit. Secondly I experienced the delayed flight so, I really needed to take more time to wait for the VIP guests that I was assigned to accommodate them. Actually the flight would arrive at 18.10 hrs but unfortunately, it delayed. Therefore, the exact arrival time was approximately 21.20 hrs. For the solution of the second problem, I solved it by waiting until the flight arrived then I could get back home because I really needed to make sure that the guests that I was assigned to take responsibility on them could get the van comfortably, smoothly and safely. In addition, I have experienced one more problem that I had to welcome and lead the guests to the van by my own self because there were only 2 airport representatives at that time and they both had to take care of other flights therefore, I was willing to assist the airport representatives by taking care of the guests from the domestic flight. As for the solution, I could solve this problem successfully and effectively because I could get the guests and lead them to the van with safety and I always tried to make them get comfortable with my first time of working instead of airport representative. I ran my working procedures from asking about the guests’ safety and comfort with the flight, their original country, their previous trip, their interests to travel in Bangkok as well as I had to inform the guests about their departure service such as service date, pick up time, pick up point. Moreover, I seriously had to inform my guests that if they needed some help or had any emergent requirements then just called directly to the Operations Office in Bangkok. For the third day, surprisingly I could experience only one problem which was about the late woke up of some tourists according to the pickup time was too early for the tourist. The reason for early pick up was that a tourist guide had to pick the tourists up from many hotels to visit the Damnoen Saduak floating market Floating Market; therefore, those tourists who came late had to take taxi to get in the coach at the last pick up point in order to be with the group. Regarding the solution of the above problem, the tourists who came late had to spend some money on taxi fare because it was their fault to wakes up so late. However, being a tourist guide totally had to understand about the tourists’ behaviors and characteristics so that he / she could run their tours smoothly without any complaints. Undoubtedly, I finally experienced the problem that I could not even imagine that this problem totally led me such a great chance to work as a tourist guide for a short period of time. According to the tourist guide had another duty to take tourists to visit the Grand Palace

B. A. (Tourism Industry) International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University Tel: + 66 (0) 2 1601200 Fax: +66 (0) 2 1601199 www.ssruic.com 6

in the afternoon that he had to pick the tourists up at hotel in Sukhumvit area; therefore, when he just asked me to escort the tourists from Gems gallery to the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel. At the time that I had to take care of my tourist was one of the most exciting moments for me because I didn’t even know that I would have to accommodate the tourists; however, I just tried to do my best by being confident to speak out as well as try to make my tourists felt comfortable with their trip. Experiences and Benefits As far as I am concerned, I personally actually think that the more I can experience the problems, the more I can improve myself and I can totally learn how to deal with each different problem. Therefore, working with the problem is always the best way to learn and also learning from the mistake is the best teacher that I can even think about. According to my opportunity to observe the company’s tours, I could encounter many experiences and benefits that I could not even think that I could get them in classes or in the office as the following lists;

i) I could experience about the tourists’ behaviors and characteristics because after providing the services in order to impress the tourists, so the service provider is supposed to get to know his/her clients or guests first. Besides, what clients like or don’t like is one of the most important thing a good tourist guide supposes to know in order to satisfy the clients. Therefore, working as a tourist guide is not that hard but the tourist guide is supposed to be a service-minded person who is willing to take good care of the clients, to comfort them as well as to maintain the safety of the trip. ii) I could experience about working procedures of a tourist guides from different languages and the characteristics of each tourist guide is as important as the characteristic of clients because people always have their own styles to provide a service as long as they can keep the happiness and enjoyment of clients. iii) It was really beneficial for me to get to know the routings of each tour as well as some new popular tourist attractions of the company then I can take all the knowledge and experiences that I got for the observation to enhance my future career more or less. iv) I completely could experience new atmosphere, meet new interesting people from each different sites as well as to create the relationship with local suppliers to benefit my future career. Moreover, working out of the office could support my interests as I wanted to work as a tourist guide or operations officer. v) I got to know how to solve some problems that I have experienced while I was working out of the office so that when I will have to experience the same problem in the future then I will absolutely know how to deal with each problem. vi) I got to know more about the truths of being tourist guide because they shared some ideas and experience with me. Additionally some tourist guides were so opened to me therefore, I totally had the ideas forward my future career as a tourist guide.

B. A. (Tourism Industry) International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University Tel: + 66 (0) 2 1601200 Fax: +66 (0) 2 1601199 www.ssruic.com 7

Summary To summarize, I can say exactly that the observation tour gave me a lot of things and the tour made me look forward about the reality of being a tourist guide because sometimes working as a tourist guide isn’t beautiful as I thought or even isn’t tough that I have imagined about. Every experience and benefit totally exceeded my expectations. Moreover, every working hour with the real tourist guides totally excited me and gave me more confident to work in this field because all the things that I have obtained just emphasized me to be so sure that tourism industry is a kind of challenging industry that I really wanted to work for.

B. A. (Tourism Industry) International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University Tel: + 66 (0) 2 1601200 Fax: +66 (0) 2 1601199 www.ssruic.com 8

Appendices

B. A. (Tourism Industry) International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University Tel: + 66 (0) 2 1601200 Fax: +66 (0) 2 1601199 www.ssruic.com 9

Photos of the first day

At the Emerald Buddha Temple & Khong Tour

B. A. (Tourism Industry) International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University Tel: + 66 (0) 2 1601200 Fax: +66 (0) 2 1601199 www.ssruic.com 10

Photos of the second day

At Rom Hoop Market & Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

B. A. (Tourism Industry) International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University Tel: + 66 (0) 2 1601200 Fax: +66 (0) 2 1601199 www.ssruic.com 11

Photos of the third day

At the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market (English guide)

B. A. (Tourism Industry) International College, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University Tel: + 66 (0) 2 1601200 Fax: +66 (0) 2 1601199 www.ssruic.com 12

Photos of the fourth day

At the Golden Buddha, Reclining Buddha & Marble temples