16,162 .travel domains have been registered during the first 16 weeks of allocation, exceeding expectations. With global travel industry leaders such as
British Airways, Expedia, Fairmont, Kruger National Park, TUI, Raffles Hotels and
Resorts, Marriott, Carnival Cruise Lines and Disney among the first to register
their company’s .travel domain names, Ron Andruff, president of Tralliance
Corporation, the .travel Registry responsible for administering the domain, i spleased with the success.

The revelation took place as Tralliance hosted industry leaders and travel
trendsetters from around the world at a gathering in New York City on January 29 to
celebrate the highly anticipated official launch of the domain.

With this announcement, the .travel top level domain formally establishes itself in
the mainstream of the World Wide Web following completion of the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) mandated limited launch phase.
The limited launch period demonstrated that all systems are “go,” which enables the
fully operational Registry to now accept .travel registrations from the broad
spectrum of the global travel and tourism industry.

“The .travel Registry is now open and we are inviting all the world’s travel-related
businesses to claim their space on the Internet,” said Andruff, before the crowd of
influential guests and representatives of .travel domain holding organizations,
including the Honorable Charles Lapointe, chairman of the board of the Canadian
Tourism Commission (CTC), Birger Backman, president of The Travel Partnership
Corporation (TTPC), Vincent Wolfington, chairman of the World Travel and Tourism
Council (WTTC), Kathryn Sudeikis, national president and CEO of the American Society
of Travel Agents (ASTA) and Peter de Jong, president and CEO of the Pacific Asia
Travel Association (PATA).

“As the logical expansion of the domain name system and technology advancements
continue to propel the Internet revolution, the travel industry, the largest
industry in the world, is the first to make a unified effort to remove their
products and services from the anonymity of the .com Web to institute its own
identity through an industry-specific space on Internet,” continued Andruff.
“.travel is now a permanent part of the foundation of the World Wide Web.  As travel
and tourism businesses register their .travel domains they are not only reshaping
the next generation Internet but making history by playing their role in this
defining moment in the evolution of travel industry.”

“Tralliance has taken a very methodical approach throughout the introduction of the
.travel domain and has enlisted the support of more than 120 travel associations to
assist in the process,” said Backman. “Averaging 1,000 domain names per week at this
stage clearly indicates a high level of enthusiasm throughout the industry.  And
while no one expects this pace to continue, it certainly demonstrates that the
.travel space will continue to populate in a robust fashion over the next decade,”
he said.

Andruff noted that the Registry is pleased with the adoption rate and that the
current number of registered domains after only 16 weeks almost tops that of all
other Sponsored Top Level Domains combined, including those that have been in
existence more than five years.
——-