travelArt: Chile adventure travel

ABOUT US IMAGEBROCHURE DOWNLOAD After extensive journeys throughout the world, we founded travelArt in 1994. Today, over a decade later, we are one of the established leaders in the Chilean tourism market. Our intention, from the beginning, was to offer quality service, imaginative travel routes, and interesting activities. We quickly developed our own travelArt organisation throughout the country and, in the meantime, we operate our own offices in the most important tourism regions. 36 members of staff take care of our customers, while our highly trained team of tour leaders is committed to serving the needs of every individual guest. We are the specialists in Chile for high quality cultural and study tours, as well as for nature and hiking holidays. Incentive trips, wine tours and arranging cruises are also part of our remit. Carsten is responsible for product development, customer care and sales. Elke is in charge of finance and marketing. We both studied business management in Germany, and we also worked as tour guides and product managers before we took the plunge and founded travelArt. Our great passion in Chile remains travelling in all its regions to discover the best hotels, explore new routes and find new attractions. Elke Hausdorf and Carsten Bengelsdorff
A LITTLE INTRODUCTION OF OUR TEAM
Judith Nagel from Frankfurt studied Tourism Management in Bad Honnef and had the opportunity to travel a lot during her studies. She spent two semesters in South Carolina and did internships with leading tourism companies, not only in Germany, but also in New York and Cape Town. Judith knows all the regions of Chile and she also lived and worked several months in Puerto Varas prior to her studies. She loved this country so much that she always wanted to come back, and she has been supporting our sales team since June 2008. Since May 2010 she works in the funtion of a Sales Manager for travelArt. Judith likes to do all kinds of sports and can hardly live without music. Top to Page

Juliane Lewy work and life experience in many parts of the world. She first did an apprenticeship as an office clerk and then studied Tourism Business Management in Heilbronn before joining travelArt in 2006 as a sales consultant. During three year she was working for us, then left for a short break the company and came back in May 2010. Now she is working in the function of a sales manager. When Juliane isn`t just exploring some corner of Chile, you can find her in one of the many cafés of her neighborhood, Nuñoa. Top to Page

Dorothea Jasiel grew up near Danzig, studied in Lübeck and married in Santiago. Dorothea’s life is that of a cosmopolitan. After studying business administration focusing on tourism and completing an apprenticeship as a travel agent, she began to work as a trainee at travelArt in 2002. Doro got to know Chile and the mentality of its inhabitants during multiple trips to the regions. Today, she is an experienced consultant in the sales team and specialises in group travel. With fluent German, Polish, Spanish, English and some French, she is our language talent. Top to Page

Jessica Valenzuela is the only "real" Santiaguina on the sales team, and the one with the longest travelArt experience in our Santiago office. She studied “Técnico en Turismo” in the Chilean Capital and had already worked in tourism for five years before she started working in our team. Jessica arranges group and individual travel all over Chile and organizes golf trips. She is married and spends her free time with her daughter Laura. Top to Page

Anne Schröder Top to Page

Carolina Flindt was born in Mar and therefore a right Viña Marina. For a time she lived in Temuco in southern Chile before in 1992 she moved to Waldbronn (Germany) with her family. There she finished the school. Then she had begun with the training as a travel agent, which she could not finish because the family returned back to Chile in 2005. Here in Chile, she then studied INACAP Valparaiso Tourism Travel and tourism focus ("Tecnico en Turismo). After graduation, she was working one year in San Pedro de Atacama. There, she worked in various areas of tourism. Starting in a hotel over to a travel agent up to a work as a tri-lingual tour guide. In 2009, she worked in Pucon - first in a hotel, and then in a tourism agency. Now she is supporting out travelArt sales team. Carolina loves to dance, especially salsa and she adores animals. When she has fre time or holidays she likes do discover the different sites of her beloved Chile. Top to Page

Kathrin Mueller Since November 2009 Kathrin from northern Germany is part of the travelArt sales team. Originally, she is a social worker, but has already worked in tourism for a while in Barcelona, where she also learned Spanish additionally to her English and French skills. Kathrin loves nature and outdoor activities such as diving and jogging, so Chile is just the right place for her. Top to Page

Andrea Pietsch , Head of office Puerto Varas is from Blankenburg and has been at home in the world of tourism for a long time: first she became a travel agent and then she studied tourism. After her studies, she joined travelArt as a trainee in 1999. Later, she specialized in the management of group travel and is an expert in tours to the Lake Region of Chile and Argentina. Today, Andrea is head of our office in Puerto Varas and manages the communication and cooperation with guides and suppliers. She spends her spare time in the fresh air, hiking or trekking on the beautiful trails of the surrounding area. Top to Page

María-Estrella Faundez is from the Maule region and our all-round talent. With ample experience in tourism, she started working with us in 2001. Since then, she supported teams at reception, accounting and sales, before joining the transport unit. Initially, she took care of northern Chile, and now she is responsible for Santiago. She is also in charge of the selection and training of our guides. María-Estrella has two daughters and loves to spend her free time on family excursions, or with reading and dancing. Top to Page

Ursula Gomez started to work with us in 2004. She decided to study tourism because she had always been interested in geography and history. In her spare time, Ursula likes to practice inline skating and to play bass guitar. Ursula speaks English, and is now planning to learn some Chinese. Top to Page

Pamela Pereira is a real "Sureña", a southern Chilean. She comes from Osorno and studied “Técnica en Turismo” in Concepción. Work led her to the capital Santiago, where she was employed in a travel agency for several years, before joining us in January 2008. She supports the reservation department. Pamela is the "travelArtist" in our team: she paints pictures and makes jewellery. One day, she would like to travel the length of Chile, from north to south. Top to Page

Claudia Sepulveda is our authentic Patagonian from Punta Arenas and has hiked all the southern national parks and knows them very well. She studied Técnica en Turismo and gained many years of experience in her home town before coming from the extreme south to the geographic and economic centre of Chile, to Santiago. There, she first worked for an airline, and then joined our transport department in February 2008.Claudia enjoys sport and plays paddle. Top to Page

Gustavo Rosales Thon is from the south of Chile. He spent his childhood in Valdivia, later in Concepcion. After he came to Santiago to study tourism. He has 9 years experience in various fields of tourism and had promoted the holiday destination Chile in many countries of Latinamerica. Gustavo is happily married and has a three year old son. His free time belongs to the family. On Sunday he will spoil his family with culinary delights. Top to Page

Soledad Schilling comes from the region of Los Lagos and studied at the University of Valdivia "Administracion de Empresas Turisticas". She has more than 10 years experience in this field. Soledad has worked as a bilingual tour guide as well as the last five years for a British tour operator in Puerto Montt. She loves to travel and the music. Her free time she spends with her husband and their two dogs. Top to Page

Inés Morales , Puerto Varas is Chilean and has a tremendous knack for making things happen the way one wants them to happen, just when one is feeling a long way from home. Inés studied tourism in Osorno and had worked in travel agencies for many years before settling in with our international team. Since 2004, she has been working in our Puerto Varas office, where she takes care of the groups travelling in the Lake Regions of Chile and Argentina. Top to Page

Vania Vlahovic , Punta Arenas was born in Chile and decided to study tourism due to her passion for travel. She had already worked in a local Chilean travel agency for 10 years before she came to travelArt in September 2006. Today she works for our office in Patagonia where she is in charge of reservations and document control. Vania is very active and loves to dance and hike. She would like to travel the world, getting to know different cultures and languages. Top to Page

Hilda Marmolejo , General Accountant has been in charge of several different areas of work since she came to TravelArt in 2003: at first, she worked as assistant in the accounting department, then she looked after the supplier invoices and payments, and now she is head of the accounting department. Hilda is Chilean, although her name does not suggest this. She loves the fresh air and mountain scenery of the, and goes hiking with her husband as often as she can… though not recently, as the youngest member of the family still needs to grow before fitting into some hiking boots. Hilda is supported by our energetic accounting-team: Top to Page

Jocelyn Gutierrez Jocelyn comes from Santiago, where she also did her apprenticeship to become an accountant. After gaining five years of work experience, she came to travelArt and is just the right person to take care of deposits and accounting. When she is not book-keeping, you will probably find her in a cinema, because Jocelyn loves watching films. Top to Page

Melissa Hernandez originally comes from a beautiful small town located in between mountains and the coast. She came to Santiago in order to do an apprenticeship in accounting, and she joined us in June 2007 as our treasurer, having completed some work experience. In her spare time, Melissa loves going to the fitness centre, meeting friends, or visiting her family in the coastal region. Top to Page

Victor Delgado , Administrator has broad experience: from 2004 onwards, he was the head of the IT-department and responsible for all technology and the computer-network of our fast-growing business. „Along the way“, he completed his computer studies - a great achievement! In the middle of 2007, he spent some time in Great Britain to deepen his IT-knowledge and then took over his present function as administrator. Victor speaks English and knows some programming languages. Top to Page

Eduardo Mardones Top to Page

Francys Siefert was born and raised in Santiago. She is a trained bi-lingual secretary and has been working with us since May 2008, supporting the finance and administration department. During her free time, she spends as much time as possible with her children, doing a variety of sports such as skiing, skating, or swimming. Top to Page

Katrin Retzar , Quality-Manager was born in Magdeburg and is one of the old hands at travelArt: she arrived as a trainee in Puerto Varas in January 2000. After a short stay in Germany, she returned to Chile in 2002, and came back to TravelArt as well. Katrin worked on the development and implementation of our reservation system and is now responsible for its content and the data administration. In addition, she supports the directors as a quality manager and she is always there for any customer concerns. Katrin studied business administration with focus on tourism in Germany and England. She speaks English and Spanish fluently. Top to Page

Andrea Madsen , Assistant CEO studied industrial engineering and joined us in 2003, bringing several years of experience in quality management and organization with her. Initially, she was responsible for the area of logistics, finance and administration, and ran the entire infrastructure. In April, she took over the management from Horst Simon. Andrea comes from Santiago and knows her native country well from numerous trips. Top to Page