Verghese named CEO of Venture Asia Holdings

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