.TRAVEL DOMAINS - Pro's and Con's

On the surface, .travel domains can appear too long, unwieldy and potentially unnessesary. Maybe for travel companies such as “Thomas Cook”, a .travel domain will actually look good and achieve its purpose (thomascook.travel). Not only does it inform the customer that this is a bona fide travel company, but it also doesn’t seem too awkward as a long domain name. However there are a lot of company names such as “Dash” (dash.travel), which can it look less like a domain and more like a funky name (DashDot Travel).

We have been brought up on the internet to trust and aspire towards short domains such as .com. Although 60% of people couldn’t tell you what com stands for (commercial), the likelihood is that they will hold a .com site in more esteem than any other. Long domains such as .travel almost seem to be in conflict with our deep-rooted preferences. This, coupled with the badly managed release of .travel domains has lead to a situation where 12 years after their release, there are still millions of .travel domains yet to be registered.

.TRAVEL DOMAINS – an inauspicious beginning

Due to widely held beliefs and speculative rumours, many web developers and domain registrars hold . travel domains in disregard. Without going into details, I will attempt to illuminate as to why the .travel domain release was such a flop.

ONLINE TRAVEL INDUSTRY & ITS PITFALLS

Gone are the days when the sole source of travel information and services came from the high-street travel agent. The online travel industry has blossomed in the past decade, now supplying absolutely everything needed for a trip, except maybe for the actual experience itself. Nowadays if you happen to contract the travel itch, the first place you go for answers will invariably be the Internet.

Apart from adult websites (naughty.xxx) and spam sites, Travel has become the biggest online industry. In fact, completely contrary to popular predictions 10-20 years ago, worldwide interconnectivity has boosted travel rather than making it obsolete. This has meant that the way we think about travel has changed, or rather how we approach it.