Author: Verena Nowatzky

Every winter, students on the Tourism Management course ask themselves the same question: "Where do I do my internship in the 4th semester?"
An internship abroad lasting at least 15 weeks is recommended, but Corona has thwarted many dreams of sunny beaches over the past two years.

I spoke to Kora from the tourism degree course, who completed her internship semester in Pirna from March to June 2020. There, she worked in the sustainability department of the Saxon Switzerland Tourism Association. One of her main tasks was to create the farm shop flyer, which clearly summarizes all the farm stores in Saxon Switzerland for tourists. The aim was to make them more easily accessible. Kora herself was involved in the data collection and research, as well as the design, and tells me enthusiastically how much fun these activities were for her. This also resulted in the topic for her practical assignment: "A SWOT analysis for the implementation of the farm shop project and a subsequent derivation of recommendations for action".

Together with her colleague, she also developed an employee guide for sustainability in the office. There, too, she was able to let off steam creatively and many of her design ideas were adopted and implemented by an artist.

Due to the start of the pandemic, Kora's typical working day during her internship at the Saxon Switzerland Tourism Association mainly took place in her home office in Dresden. She communicated with her colleagues via email, telephone and the online administration portal Trello.

"Creating a structure for yourself at home is definitely more strenuous than working properly in the office."

What she did like, however, was the flexitime model, which allowed her to organize her working day very flexibly. The employees were trusted with their independent work ethic and there was no constant monitoring.

Overall, Kora is more than satisfied with her former internship.

"I came in and it was the perfect workplace for me," she enthuses. "It was the first time I really enjoyed working."

She was able to take a lot away from her time at the Saxon Switzerland Tourism Association. She can imagine continuing in this direction after her studies and has also learned a lot about her own work behavior due to the high degree of independence required.

Looking back, Kora can only warmly recommend the tourism association as an internship company. There was a very pleasant working atmosphere, even if she wasn't able to get to know her colleagues as well because she was working from home. Nevertheless, Kora was directly involved in day-to-day operations and was able to take on responsibility.

"You're immediately given a proper task that also challenges you."

This was also due to the fact that the sustainability department only consisted of two employees - the head of department and herself. So there was always something to do.

The sustainability department is a very interesting area in the tourism association, as sustainability is also firmly anchored in its guidelines. But the other departments also offer potential for an interesting internship at the Saxon Switzerland Tourism Association.

As you can see, there are also great opportunities for an exciting internship semester in Germany - and even very close by! With this in mind, I would like to wish all those who are about to do so a successful search and an instructive internship later on.