Worldwide industry leaders will unveil details about the new top level internet domain, .travel (dot travel), during opening day at WTM 2005 in London. Senior representatives of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA) and Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) are among those scheduled to participate in the informative .travel launch preview event on November 14.
The new internet domain is designed to help raise the profile, credibility and identity of the worldwide travel industry, particularly at a time when online consumer spending on travel products has surged upwards to more than 28 per cent.
Ron Andruff, president and chief executive officer of Tralliance Corporation, the New York company serving as the registry for .travel, will provide insight into what has already occurred during the limited pre-launch phase, which began in October. “This insight we will provide at WTM comes at a critical time, since we will be at the half-way milestone in the 90-day limited launch of .travel, which began on October 3. We are very much looking forward to sharing early .travel success stories,” he said.
While the official launch of .travel will take place in January 2006, more than 30 leading travel industry organisations, including ASTA, WTTC and PATA have been involved in pre-authentication which began in July. “Thousands of .travel registrants, representing every sector of the industry from entire countries to individually-owned travel service providers, have already been authenticated,” said Andruff.
Tom Nutley, chairman of RTE, organisers of WTM, who will be speaking at the launch preview at WTM, said “The use of online resources for research and reservations has gone through the roof and .travel represents a major opportunity for the industry to be promoted universally. At the same time, it also strengthens consumer confidence when they buy holidays direct from the web.
“The launch preview at WTM is a timely opportunity for national and regional tourist offices, tour operators, hotels, resorts, cruise and ferry companies, tourist attractions and transport providers – in fact, any company or organisation involved in the travel and tourism industry – to learn more about how they can be part of a much needed great new unifying dimension to the global industry.”