TripAdvisor Completes $200 Million Acquisition of Viator

TripAdvisor completed its fourth acquisition of 2014, its $200 million acquisition of tours and activities provider Viator.

Barrie Seidenberg will stay on as president and CEO of Viator and its 250 employees will stay on and work from its headquarters in San Francisco, as well as offices in Las Vegas, London and Sydney.

So far in 2014 TripAdvisor has also acquired lafourchette for dining reservations, Tripbod, a peer to peer tours and activities site, and Vacation Home Rentals.

“We’re thrilled to add Viator to the TripAdvisor family and to grow in the attractions and activities space,” said Stephen Kaufer, CEO of TripAdvisor. “TripAdvisor’s scale combined with Viator’s strong network of global activities and attractions will allow us to help even more travelers plan and have the perfect trip.”

“Along with the acquisition of online restaurant booking site lafourchette earlier this summer, we’re eager to leverage these powerful booking assets to provide the most comprehensive travel-planning experience for our global community of millions of travelers, both online and via mobile.”

The Viator acquisition, along with lafourchette, which means “the fork” in French, along with Tripbod, is part of TripAdvisor’s strategy to upgrade its mobile acumen and be part of travelers’ trip-planning and booking activities in-destination.

TripAdvisor announced it intended to buy Viator in late July for $200 million, substantially all in cash.

On the day of that announcement, GetYourGuide, a Viator competitor, signed a $25 million Series B funding round, but only announced it a week later on July 31.

TripAdvisor rivals the Priceline Group and Expedia have been on acquisition tears of their own in 2014.