Travel activity booking platform Viator is ready to capture a slice of the lucrative Asia-Pacific market, with plans underway to widen the company’s footprint across China, Japan and South-east Asia.
Anita Ngai, general manager of Viator Asia-Pacific, who was appointed to this newly-created role last year, shared that while at least 70 per cent of their users are from the US, UK and Australia, her responsibility aims to “balance this proportion” with Asia’s travellers.
While acknowledging that they are still in their early days in Asia, Ngai said: “It is not as if we never gave much thought to this part of the world (before), it was just that we didn’t have enough resources earlier.”
While Ngai is based in Viator’s San Francisco headquarters, she said that they have since employed new staff in Singapore and may likewise do so for Japan and Hong Kong as these are their current top markets in Asia.
Working closely with the Viator and TripAdvisor teams, Ngai’s goal is to localise the customer experience and marketing approach, as well as improve the relevance of its product mix with the increasing number of sophisticated FITs.
When asked if Viator is considered late in the game, especially with similar online activity platforms already established here, she said: “We have a much longer company history and this gives us a stronger relationship with tour operators and suppliers which allows us to provide more unique products and also competitive prices.
“For instance, one of our unique selling points are our skip-the-line tours which has been highly rated, and some tours that are exclusive only to us.”
Commenting on last week’s announcement of Viator’s CEO Barrie Seidenberg resigning from TripAdvisor to pursue opportunities outside the company, Ngai said: “This will not affect our plans or strategies in any way and we wish Barrie well.”
Meanwhile, TripAdvisor will expand the role of Dermot Halpin, president attractions and vacation rentals, TripAdvisor, to serve as president for both its global vacation rentals and attractions divisions.
