On a sunny summer day in June 2018, Caroline visited our Footprint team in Hanoi for the first time. Her busy schedule would not let us have much spare time to waste. We took a sip of delectable Vietnamese coffee and started a quick talk to learn about each other. The conversation was rather short but very inspiring and informative, as expected from a professional with years of international experience in the tourism industry like Caroline.
1. How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Unconventional, diversity-seeking, thoughtful (in its plurality of meanings).
2. What inspired you to build a career in the tourism industry?
A 3-month working holiday experience in South Africa in my early twenties. At the time I wasn’t exactly sure what career path I wanted to take, although I already knew I wanted to be able to work anywhere – the previous year, I had had a small taste of what living abroad, in a mixed-nationality environment felt like and I was hooked.
I took a gap year from university and found a job opportunity in South Africa for 3 months. I had always been passionate about learning from books or from professors, but after these 3 months, I felt that in that short period of time I had learnt way more than in the previous 20 years, that my world had expanded exponentially, as if I had acquired a 360° vision onto the world, thanks to the people I had met, the places I had seen, the stories I had heard, what I had done and experienced myself. It was one of my first true hospitality-tourism related experiences and I knew then that it was what I needed to do to keep getting this feeling.
3. What do you like most about your job?
The people I am coming across. I don’t think I could have ever dreamed of meeting so many different people from such a variety of backgrounds; of hearing so many experiences and anecdotes; of being exposed to so many different perspectives and ways to approach the world.
Thanks to my sales & marketing positions, I have had the chance to be in contact with a lot of people from the industry, and I am always impressed about how the travel and tourism industry is made of such an impressive mix of people, the majority of whom never took a straight road from school to tourism, which makes their stories so interesting.
Today, I can count on four continents the people I have met through my job and who have had an impact on my life. And whether it is a person I collaborate with on a daily basis, someone I have met only once, or someone whom I have been lucky enough to become friends with, all these encounters have been extremely inspiring.
4. How did you start working with Footprint? And why did you choose Footprint?
After 10 years overseas, I came back to Europe, with the hope to continue collaborating with tourism and hospitality businesses operating in Asia and Africa and to participate in the development of their activity and clientele.
I chose Footprint not just for its vision, but for how its vision actually lives and breathes in everything they do on a daily basis. They are not just words in a marketing strategy, it is a corporate behaviour, a definition of how it operates, and it transpires through what they offer to their industry partners and their guests, not only because this is how they want Vietnam to be seen and experienced, but because it simply is who they are: people who truly respect the communities and places around them, people who have accepted to look at the bigger picture and who understand that today’s benefits can be tomorrow’s downfall and that there are ways to ensure this does not happen, steps they are willing to take even when it requires sacrifices.
5. What do you think of Vietnam as a destination?
Vietnam is one of the most colourful, exciting, captivating, enriching places I have ever seen and experienced. Sometimes, I do worry about where it is going through, in terms of tourism development, which is why, as little as my contribution may be in the grand scheme of things, I really wanted to support the initiatives of a company that strives to get things in the right direction to make sure it remains the mind-blowing destination I have encountered 10 years ago.
Caroline is now officially a team member of the Footprint family, with great responsibility to represent Footprint to the European market. We wish her luck and a wonderful working experience with Footprint!
Ms. Caroline Thomas
Europe Sales Representative
Mobile: +44 203 695 1944
Email: salesrep@footprint.vn
