Tralliance Corporation announced an agreement with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to continue the extension of the .travel Place Name Priority Right through 31 December 2006. The announcement took place during Online Revealed Canada, the first online travel conference in Canada hosted by the Canadian Tourism Commission, and demonstrates endorsement of the UNWTO for this global initiative.

Governments have already been given the sole right to their specific country names in the .travel industry-specific Internet space. However, Place Names, which are defined as cities, towns, heritage sites, sacred sites, national parks, etc., must be claimed and registered by their respective government authorities, according to Ron Andruff, president and CEO of Tralliance Corporation, the .travel Registry. The company had previously extended the deadline through 30 April 2006.

“We fully support this deadline extension through the end of the year, but believe that governments should act quickly and responsibly to protect the names of their national treasures in the .travel Internet space,” said UNWTO Deputy Secretary General Dr. Taleb Rifai. “Based on feedback from our members, some nations of the world are just beginning to understand the potential power of .travel and we believe that Tralliance Corporation is aiding the entire global travel industry by extending this deadline,” said Dr. Rifai.

“The UNWTO continues to serve in a leadership role to alert nations about the importance and need to protect the names of individual nations’ most recognized tourism assets on the .travel domain,” said Ron Andruff of Tralliance Corporation. “It is important that each individual tourism entity place name be secured by their nations so that travellers - today and into the future - will be assured that what they find on a .travel web site is exactly what they are seeking,” Andruff asserted.

Tourism entities are encouraged to visit www.travel.travel (Place Names
Advisory) for information on how to complete the application process. As of the official .travel launch in January, tens of thousands of industry-exclusive domain names had been registered. At the same time, Tralliance uveiled the new .travel Directory ( www.directory.travel ) in development mode, as a free service for consumers and the travel trade seeking information online. Providing a precise catalog of virtually every product or service offered by .travel registrants, the .travel Directory is an unbiased search tool that distributes company, product and service information corresponding to each query, enabling users to expeditiously find exactly what they are looking for. The .travel Directory is currently available in ten languages with many more to come.

“Tourism leaders now have a better understanding of the Directory, and as more and more large tourism entities are actively using their.travel domains in large-scale marketing efforts, nations that have not registered are telling us that the additional time is critical,” said Andruff. “We believe the extension is in the best interest of the global tourism industry and the leadership of the UNWTO agrees.”

Travel industry associations have been encouraging widely-visited tourism and travel centers to properly register .travel names so that the sites and destinations are properly represented in the consumer .travel Directory. “We continue to rely on these partners to help engage their membership, but it is also important that nations and their governments act quickly to preserve their tourism assets as well,” Andruff said.
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