Executive Vice- President of VIAJO.COM (N/A)

Q-1: Mr. Young, can you explain to our readers about the main services that Viajo.com is offering and, of course, elaborate on its beginnings. A-1: Enrique R. Felgueres Jr. founded Viajo.com. His family owns the second largest Travel Company in Mexico. In 1995 he moved to the United States and got exposed to the explosive growth of the Internet in that country. Immediately he thought that there was a good opportunity for his business. He saw the development of successful American online travel companies like Travelocity and Expedia. So he developed Viajo.com’s business plan and approached Chase Capital Partners, now JP Morgan Partners. They said that it was quite a good idea to start that business not only in Mexico but also in Latin America. In August of 1999 we closed the first round of financing for a total of 5.5 million dollars. The funds were used primarily for setting up the infrastructure, developing the technology and positioning the brand. We opened offices in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, United States and Venezuela. On March 2000, Viajo.com raised a second round of financing for a total of 31.5 million dollars.Viajo.com continued to develop its strategy in the region by setting up call centers and local offices in each country were we operate. We strongly believe that the best formula to successfully operate these types of businesses in Latin America is the click & mortar concept. Finally, on July 1st of this year, Viajo.com raised a third round of financing. The round was raised among our existing investors, and we are now funded to profitability, which we expect to reach in the first quarter of 2002. Q-2: Could you elaborate on your concept? A-2: Buying travel is by far a more elaborate and comprehensive process than buying books or compact discs. We strongly believe that, especially in Latin America, our customers still want to be able to communicate with a human being at some given point during the process of planing and booking a trip. In addition, the distribution and fulfilment infrastructures in Latin America are not as reliable as the ones that are common in the United States. For example, in the United States it is common to send tickets to customers over the regular postal service. That is still not possible in most Latin American countries. In addition, electronic tickets are seldom used in the region. We also have to take into consideration that each country were we operate is a market by itself. There are differences in culture, buying patterns, preferred destinations, etc. We need to be able to provide our customers with content, products and services tailored to their needs on a per country basis. Because of all these reasons we decided to open offices and call centers in every country were we operate. Q-3: How many visits and registered users do you have per month? A-3: At the present time we have more 8 million page views per month and over 500,00 registered users. These figures are increasing dramatically on a monthly basis. We experienced a significant growth in the last two months as a result of the strategic acquisition of Turismonet in Brazil. As a result of this acquisition, UOL and Flytour, Turismonet’s previous owners, are now shareholders of Viajo.com. UOL is the largest portal and ISP service in Brazil. Flytour is the largest Travel Company in Latin America with 130 offices throughout Brazil and annual sales in excess of 500 million dollars. Q-4: What are your expectations after the acquisition of Turismonet? A-4: The travel industry in Latin America is undergoing dramatic changes. Following the trend in the United States and Europe, standard commissions paid by airlines to travel companies are dropping also in our region. In addition, online travel is proving to be a very successful business model and one that will continue to grow substantially in the years to come. Traditional Travel Agencies are starting to feel the impact on their bottom line performance. The consolidation process, both online and offline is now starting to happen. We want to be the drivers of consolidation in the travel industry in Latin America. Viajo.com is poised to become the largest Travel Company in the region. We feel confident about this because we have the financial resources, travel management expertise, cutting edge technology and the best positioned travel brand in Latin America Q-5: I assume that your partner portfolio includes as well airline companies, hotels, car rental companies, etc. A-5: Viajo.com strongly believes in long term partnerships with travel suppliers. Given our strong purchasing power in the region, we have been able to build a strong Preferred Supplier Program that includes leading airlines, hotel chains, car vendors, cruises companies and tour operators. In addition, we have a strategic relationship with Galileo, one of the largest travel reservation systems in the world. Q-6: You are working in a very competitive market with such names as Volando.com and Despegar.com. What would you say are your main differences and advantages compared to those companies? A-6: Viajo.com believes that there is a clear distinction between the offline and online travel markets in the region. The offline market is completed saturated and is extremely competitive, but as a result of the consolidation in the industry, there will be fewer players. The online travel market is quite different. There are a number of small sized companies that operate only in one or two countries in the region. Given the lack of financial resources and critical mass, they are struggling to survive. From a pan regional perspective, the only two players are Viajo.com and Despegar.com. They are the only ones that received more than 20 million dollars of investments. Viajo.com received 38,5 million dollars and Despegar.com received 20 million dollars. Our most important competitive advantages over Despegar.com are: Management experience in the travel industry in Latin America, and a substantially stronger brick and mortar infrastructure, especially in Mexico and Brazil. Q-7: What comes first: the group’s consolidation or your development throughout Latin America? A-7: I would say that the group´s consolidation is our next step. We will concentrate most of our investments in our three top markets: Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Viajo.com is actively pursuing strategic acquisitions of both online and offline travel companies in the region. This strategy has proven to be very successful for us. We acquired the travel agency franchise division of the Felgueres Travel Corporation in Mexico back in late 1999. As a result of this acquisition we have a leadership position in that market with 50 offices in 30 cities and annual gross bookings in excess of $125 million dollars. Q-8: What should be the profile of your potential investors? A-8: Viajo.com has a very well balanced group of investors. Financial investors such as JP Morgan Partners, GP Investimentos, GE Capital, Morgan Stanley, TH Lee and SLI have been instrumental to the success of the Company. In addition we are fortunate to have strategic investors such as UOL and Flytour. Looking into the future, we will most probably be interested in establishing long-term partnerships with online travel companies based in the United States and Europe. Q-9: As you know our readers are all top executives and businessmen. What is your final message to them? A-9: I would tell them that online travel is revolutionising the way corporation’s plan and buy travel. There are a number of benefits such as better travel policy compliance, costs savings, better tools for planning travel, access to content specifically developed for business travelers, etc. The future looks bright for everyone. NOTE: World Investment News Ltd cannot be held responsible for the content of unedited transcriptions