A venture capital firm and a bank hope they put some smart money into Smart Destinations.

Smart Destinations, which provides prepaid attaction passes in 14 North American destinations, says it picked up $3 million in debt financing in a round led by MMV Financial, a venture capital firm based in Toronto.

Square 1 Bank, an existing backer, provided $1 million of the debt financing, Smart Destinations says.

Smart Destinations co-founder and CEO Kevin McLaughlin, who calls in-destination trip-planning “almost virgin territory,” says the funding will help the company in its expansion efforts.

Smart Destinations had $10 million in previous funding, according to CrunchBase.

Destination activities and tours agency Viator is to open four new country sites in Nothern Europe as part of its ongoing expansion programme.

The company is to launch local language sites in Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, joining dedicated sites for the German, French and Spanish markets already up and running.

The roll out of specific country sites is paying dividend, Viator claims, with the France, Germany and Spain sites “contributing as much 30 percent of the gross bookings to some of Viator’s top 10 destinations”.

Managing director of Viator Europe, Patrik Öqvist, says:

“It is remarkable that three of these countries collectively rank sixth in travel bookings across Europe and beat out the UK in online travel sales, with the highest online adoption across Europe.

“We are excited to be entering all four of these important markets, a clearly receptive audience, enabling not only Viator but our suppliers and affiliate partners alike to more effectively target this savvy group of travellers.”

Recent research from PhoCusWright indicates the attractiveness of the Scandinavian marketplace for travel companies – Denmark, Norway and Sweden between them are sixth in terms of travel spend in European.

Online penetration in the region is also running at 45%.