1st of September was the first day of work at Hilton Yaounde, starting in the meeting and conferences department. Everybody were extremely nice and at our disposal.
We can see even from the first day that everything we learned at Dania is very useful. We believe that we might have a bit of extra knowledge and we can bring something to the table while working here. The project about the future tourism office promoting and representing Cameroun in Denmark has been approved by the prime minister and we are doing the paper work for further action. We are working on the design of the flyers and books with the pictures we took at a trip. We will furthermore use it in the Cameroon exhibition in June. It is already established that it will be held in June in Copenhagen as soon as we graduate. We are receiving further sponsoring and support from the ministry of tourism and the prime ministry and hopefully from the school.
Before starting at Hilton we worked in the ministry of tourism and leisure for two months and were assigned to different departments starting with the department of tourism promotion. Here we students worked with the director of promotions in meetings, treating files which concern fairs invitations to the ministry and minister. We also treated files concerning applications to operate as a tourism actor either in the accommodation, restaurant etc. At the Hilton hotel we worked in the conference department. We assisted in the organisation of big conferences and weddings. We also worked at the restaurant for one week and were assigned by the director of operation to conduct a survey fo customer satisfaction.
Marie-noel participated in the A T A (Africa Travel Association) international annual meeting hosted by the ministry of tourism in Cameroon in October. At this meeting, proprietors of travel agencies as well as tour operators from Europe and United States were the main guests.
Exam project will be about the Cameroun experience; a detail analysis of the tourism potential of Cameroon will hopefully lead us on to our dream jobs as tourism consultant and tour operator.
How come Dania students end up having their internship in Africa? The internship possibility started out before Marie-noel came to Denmark.
Before coming to Dania she used to do government contracts with the ministry of Tourism in Cameroun. She was the youngest government contract sitting for national tenders 9 years ago in Cameroon, and she did renovations and constructions in different cities for the ministry and made good relations which she still kept. Marie-noel used the same relationships today to get the internship from the ministry for both her and Lucia Coltatu.
Marie-noel has a social science degree from the anglosaxon university in Cameroon. She came to Denmark 6 years ago and realised that Cameroon as a tourism destination is unknown in Denmark and the Scandinavia as a whole. She had a passion for Tourism and Hospitality, but did not have a formal education. That was the reason why she came to Dania. Marie-noel choosed Hospitality and Tourism, because there are lots of choices in the field.
Marie-noel explains: "It gives you the freedom to create and innovate your own product and besides its more of common sense and applied knowledge. Tourism is about travelling and discovering new things and making new friends. All these qualities offer a comfortable working environment with a high degree of motivation." Tourism and hospitality is a field that requires a high degree of creativity and innovation and Marie-noel is proud to say that she has such qualities. Her main goal for doing her internship in Cameroon is to convince her country to open a tourism office in Denmark, which will further help to sell the image of Cameroon as a tourism destination for the Danes and also bring business investors from Denmark to Cameroon.
She wants to operate as a focal point for her country in Denmark in terms of tourism information.