The Viator Story

Viator was created in 1995 by IT-industry veteran and entrepreneur Rod Cuthbert in Sydney, Australia. It was during this time that the travel industry began to see the need to move beyond their historic offline, agent-based operations, and Viator's immediate focus was on providing travel companies with the booking engines necessary to create their nascent World Wide Web-presence.

As most early entrants to online travel were focused on the basics like airline, hotel and rental cars, it didn't take the Viator team long to recognize an untapped opportunity in the market - trip activities - what people do once they get there. By 1998, Viator had begun forging relationships with local tour operators in cities around the world and building its global portfolio of activities, sightseeing tours and attraction passes. Shortly after, the company expanded its efforts to include unusual and off-the-beaten path activities to complement its traditional offerings.

Viator: The Traveler's One-Stop Shop

Over the past decade, the team at Viator has created a comprehensive one-stop-shop to help travelers easily book the best tours and activities to create unforgettable experiences every time they travel. Viator's vast selection of more than 5,500 trip activities spanning 400 cities in 75 countries - with everything from the traditional to unique, serene to the extreme - meets a variety of individual tastes and preferences.

Unlike many destination sites that aggregate content from disparate sources, Viator is not a paid listing or advertising site. Viator's activities are provided by reputable local operators, hand-selected by the company's in-house travel experts who routinely review and validate these activities for quality of experience, overall value and superior service.

Until 2006, Viator was primarily concentrated on providing its trip activity products and content through third-party affiliates like Priceline, Opodo, SideStep, Zuji, British Airways, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, as well as city sites like NewYork.com, SanFrancisco.com and Sydney.com.au. Today, Viator has more than 1,000 affiliates that use its proprietary technology to seamlessly integrate destination activities into their own branded Web sites.

Viator.com launched a new, more robust version of its consumer-direct site in 2006 that has been a hit with travelers and has accelerated the company's growth. The site development and enhancements were fueled by two rounds of Series B financing: $6 million in November 2005 led by Carlyle Venture Partners, the venture and growth capital arm of Washington D.C.-based Carlyle Group with participation by Sydney-based Technology Venture Partners, a previous investor; and, $4 million in spring of 2006 by the same investors.

In May 2006, Viator, Inc. acquired Las Vegas-based LookTours, significantly expanding its presence in the important Las Vegas market and more than a dozen other key destinations.