Mr Vijay Verghese has been named CEO of Singapore-based Venture
Asia Holdings just months after Venture acquired a majority stake in
Asian Bridge Media, the publisher of Holiday Asia.
Mr Verghese will continue to be based in Hong Kong and his appointment
is part of an overall effort to create a fresh and dynamic structure for
the group.
The group, which is aiming to be the leading supplier of travel
information in the region, is planning to acquire more travel titles in
Asia-Pacific within the next six months.
"Achieving critical mass is the key. We have five solid travel titles in
the group which, together, will make a lot more noise and offer a better
range of marketing options," said Mr Verghese.
Mr Verghese stressed that keeping the content relevant was the key to
success.
"Travel is quintessentially romantic. Yet the information gap is in the
application area; the fiddly world of how-tos. News you can use.
Anything else just results in a 'critical mess' ... Our editorial
content (therefore) will continue to be practical and useful."
The group is positioning itself through three channels: print, the
Internet and television.
One of Venture's significant new developments recently was its move to
expand its presence in cyberspace.
It launched holiday-asia.com which attracted 39,000 visitors within the
first five days of the roll out.
Venture is also currently redeveloping its travel portal
travelasiaone.com.
