The infamous .TRAVEL, a contrarian's point of view

[nowhammies]

I have read many opinions about why .TRAVEL is to be looked down upon. Often times these points of view contradict each other. I'd like to review them here, and offer a contrarian perspective.

1) Too expensive.

I can understand the complaint from a domainer's perspective, but to those who work in the travel industry, and want to develop quality web IP, this has always struck me as a positive. What serious business can't afford an ~$90 annual reg fee?

2) Too long.

I appreciate this point as well. But not entirely. The word travel is quite universally understood, due to its meaning. It's also memorable, and can be catchy when used with the right words. I also am not convinced that length of this magnitude really matters. I understand the issue with emails and forms, but that seems like a minor technical hurdle.

3) Nobody knows about it.

This can probably be said of any new extension. I'd say that since most travel businesses are primarily experts or knowledgeable about marketing and visibility, that this should also subside.

Well none of my contrarian views change the fact that .TRAVEL has so far proven to be a disappointment from the perspective of the industry itself, if not domainers as well. Will that ever change? I don't know, but I suspect that the extension will retain value to end users and businesses, many of whom may not even be aware of its existence.

All thoughts appreciated, agree or disagree.

 

[Kate]

Put a .travel E-mail and website URL on your business cards and people will look at you like you're coming from Mars :D

 

[Sparhawke]

It is a worthless extension because it is restricted, and not needed.

Why would companies use this when they do not have to when they can simply use their top level extension that everyone knows?

 

[nowhammies]

Sparhawke, thx for the feedback. Would a .biz or .info extension be any more needed or known? What is known is solved with marketing. The proliferation of new extensions will culminate in the desensitization in consumers' minds when they see new extensions. There will be a point where people just type what they see without question.

Given that the subject of travel has wide appeal beyond the US, where .com is no longer the only extension at the top, .travel has a lot of leg room.

As to it being unneeded, online travel is $170B USD in *China alone*, and that was in 2007!

What domainers fail to see is that travel is one of the few endeavors that must manifest itself physically at some point. It is the intersection of exploration and culture, and will be so for centuries to come.

As for it being restricted, it's less restricted than .cn at the moment. I think there is a lot of opportunity remaining on this gtld.

 

[Name Trader]

The only gtld's that are needed and known are .com and .org and the country level tld in a country where it's cctld is used a lot (.co.uk, .de for example). .biz, .info, .travel (et al) are basically worthless (relatively). Of course there will always be exceptions.

 

[nowhammies]

Stub, interesting point. I guess I'd disagree because clearly there is a limit that's been reached in using those major 3, causing the emergence of web2.0 names. The ccTlds are not as useful for a global brand presence, if one believes they are useful primarily in their own domicile. .travel is a universal term. Land in any airport, and regardless of the language, the word travel is instantly known. The recognition factor overcomes its other perceived flaws (length).

What's also interesting and contradictory, is the idea that .com, et al is enough. Scarcity in .com et al forces businesses to use names that are far harder to remember than .travel, and much longer to type.

Btw, search "canada travel", canada.travel is amongst the first few results.

 

[Kate]

The proliferation of new extensions will culminate in the desensitization in consumers' minds when they see new extensions. There will be a point where people just type what they see without question.

Possibly, one day. But we are not getting close. It's possible but won't be happening in the near future.
All the people speculating on new extensions have been acting on that promise, that so far has not materialized :talk:

 

[nowhammies]

Possibly, one day. But we are not getting close. It's possible but won't be happening in the near future.
All the people speculating on new extensions have been acting on that promise, that so far has not materialized :talk:

That is true, it hasn't yet materialized, no denying that. However one thing to consider, and I'm not sure many have, is the birthrate, and the changing of the guard. If you're 35 today, you're "old" in terms of technology. Growing up now in your teens, you'll know of domain hacks, and the new extensions by the time you're earning your way through college or getting your first paycheck afterwards. Youth is a force multiplier that is currently unaccounted for in the negative outlook on extensions.

But back to .travel, in current form, I think it's under valued by domainers precisely because it's very elusive to them.

 

[Sparhawke]

.biz could be very lucrative if it wasn't looked down upon so much, I think in about another 10 years sub-level extensions like this will start to see a resurgence as more people come online.

Now is the time to buy but only if you can figure out a way to make them pay for themselves.

The trouble with .travel, .museum and .aero is the are extremely field specific, they have very little worth beyond their own scope...God only knows which idiot thought they would be a good idea lol

I know the uk extension from being English and it is an extremely powerful extension; possibly the strongest in the world but only because people are aware of it.

Once other extensions are used more and more people will start to figure out they are not so important.

.com will likely always be king for global business but local businesses cannot afford their insane pricing...

When this happens they WILL look elsewhere.

(.biz lends itself incredibly well to geographic domains)

The biggest issue that .biz and .info and all the rest of the 2nd tier domains have is the amount of crap they accumulate...if you get a phenomenal domain with a clear business focus then you are set, most however are completely random and even in .com people just do not care for those.

Insurance.com = $40,000,000

Insurances.com = $300

Laughing at the idiot who spent his childrens inheritance on Insuranses.com = Priceless.

 

[nowhammies]

Spawhawke, some good points. But..., museum and aero are bad comparisons to .travel. Museums is a flat out un-lucrative industry, and .aero is not a consumer channel, and the business of that industry is handled through slower and bigger sales channel. Travel is a highly commodotized and massive volume business. From a macro economic standpoint, the comparison falls apart. The downside to travel is that it's not being marketed well within the industry.

Your other points are well taken, although I'd clarify that pluralization really depends. If a pluralization has keyword search volume equal or near the non pluralized form, then I don't see it as being a bad investment.

 

[DU]

Put a .travel E-mail and website URL on your business cards and people will look at you like you're coming from Mars :D

Have you ever used a business card?

I'm not saying that .Travel is the best domain to pick; however, a large factor is how you do business. If a large amount of your business in travel related and you spend a lot of time marketing at a local/business card level, it's not as foolish as it sounds.

If people can remember icanhazcheeseburger or whatever the heck it is... I'm sure they can remember lastname.travel/businessname.travel if marketed at that level.

How you choose your name should be considered alongside your overall marketing picture, imho.

Not saying .travel is good. I'm just saying you can make .travel work. Again, just IMO.

 

[alien51]

I think the value of .TRAVEL is that it is regulated. When something is "regulated", it is forced to compliance to certain standards. And this makes a .TRAVEL website more authentic, more secured, better trusted, than the Wild Wild West Everything Goes world of COM\NET\ORG sites.

So for the online consumer, this idea is supposed to be appealing. Because you have peace of mind that you are dealing with a website that has been checked out already by a strictly regulating registrar.

But then, people in this planet look for information using search engines. So unless Google will alter its algorithm to show ".TRAVEL" websites first when someone types keywords related to travel, then its relevance will be subjected to the same free-market competition just like all the other TLDs.

If Google will assure me that people typing "Sweden travel", will get to see "sweden.travel" on the top of the list always, then that's a big deal and a game-changer.

Look at the contents of "canada.travel", it's just an ordinary website. What makes it unique anyway? It's uniqueness is tied to its "catchy" short name. Very brandable. But to the eyes of a consumer, its value is just about it. They don't offer rock-bottom plane tickets to Canada?

Online consumers are attracted to CONTENT. Look at the various torrent and pirated software websites and pornography. They carry weird names with obscure domain extensions. But millions of people seek them out.

But then again, new TLDs are always a welcome prospect for domain competitors to get the chance to own short, brandable names, whose COM\NET\ORG versions might already be taken.

 

[nowhammies]

I think the value of .TRAVEL is that it is regulated. When something is "regulated", it is forced to compliance to certain standards. And this makes a .TRAVEL website more authentic, more secured, better trusted, than the Wild Wild West Everything Goes world of COM\NET\ORG sites.

So for the online consumer, this idea is supposed to be appealing. Because you have peace of mind that you are dealing with a website that has been checked out already by a strictly regulating registrar.

But then, people in this planet look for information using search engines. So unless Google will alter its algorithm to show ".TRAVEL" websites first when someone types keywords related to travel, then its relevance will be subjected to the same free-market competition just like all the other TLDs.

If Google will assure me that people typing "Sweden travel", will get to see "sweden.travel" on the top of the list always, then that's a big deal and a game-changer.

Look at the contents of "canada.travel", it's just an ordinary website. What makes it unique anyway? It's uniqueness is tied to its "catchy" short name. Very brandable. But to the eyes of a consumer, its value is just about it. They don't offer rock-bottom plane tickets to Canada?

Online consumers are attracted to CONTENT. Look at the various torrent and pirated software websites and pornography. They carry weird names with obscure domain extensions. But millions of people seek them out.

But then again, new TLDs are always a welcome prospect for domain competitors to get the chance to own short, brandable names, whose COM\NET\ORG versions might already be taken.

Well stated, glad there's some open minds on this issue. .travel is not as bad as some make it to be.

 

[Kate]

I think the value of .TRAVEL is that it is regulated. When something is "regulated", it is forced to compliance to certain standards. And this makes a .TRAVEL website more authentic, more secured, better trusted, than the Wild Wild West Everything Goes world of COM\NET\ORG sites.

In theory restricted extensions sound like a good idea, for example a .bank with vetting of applicants to combat phishing.
In practice extensions that have restrictions and red tape are not popular among end users. Plenty of extensions including .pro are testimony to that.

Internet users are not aware of the restrictions that .travel carries, so a .travel will not automatically convey trust. In fact people will trust a .travel even LESS because they are so unfamiliar with it.

 

[Sparhawke]

The only way to get .travel out there is if the big players like Lunn Poly and Thomas Cook (at least in England) started redirecting their .com domains to this extension to get it seen...

I somehow doubt they will do that.

Kate makes the point that hits home, it is all about trust...people are aware of the top three extensions and their own country code but the more random the extension the less people are going to trust it. People trust the mark of ABTA though for the most part people do not have a clue what it is; they have seen it for years but if you expect people to suddenly accept something without knowing the nuances of what they are actually seeing they will not get it, no matte how cool it looks.

(ABTA is the governing body of travel agents in England and even they do not use the extension)

 

[procanic]

Sdsink Posted... And I agree 100% "Internet users are not aware of the restrictions that .travel carries, so a .travel will not automatically convey trust. In fact people will trust a .travel even LESS because they are so unfamiliar with it."

This also applies to Purchasing In my opinion,I have run into some strong Industry related Names and am Too "Un-familiar" with .travel where this extension is going No idea. I have bought .ws,.mobi and.me .. What they were meant to be is entirely what they are not. Have not sold one I am not complaining Its a crap shoot.

I will not be buying any .co, Travel or Aero or any other Obscure Extension . The registrars need our Money Because all the .com,net,org and .info names Worth registering are taken.
They need our money to stay in business! So Come up with the next big thing based on an Extension the average user is not going to type in. I could be wrong But I seriously have not seen one of the next big things do anything except waste money.
They got my money ..Enough to teach me a lesson... and thats it.No More!

Hey 'Sparhawke' .Biz is not the bottom of the barrel anymore There are lots to choose from!

 

[alien51]

The only way to get .travel out there is if the big players like Lunn Poly and Thomas Cook (at least in England) started redirecting their .com domains to this extension to get it seen...

Which is exactly a pointless kind of redundancy.

If your COM website is already very popular, why pay extra dollars to maintain a .TRAVEL version of the same thing? And more importantly, why spend gigantic marketing money to influence people to move to a new domain extension when they are already happy and contented with the COM site?

I think those who strongly support these new TLDs are just the losers of this free market competition.

And come to think of it, if all the travel-related COMs out there will be allowed to own their .TRAVEL versions, will there be room for new players anyway?

Whoever invented this .TRAVEL TLD is saying that many travel websites will not be allowed to own their .TRAVEL equivalents.

So you will end up with say:

visitcanada.com
visitcanada.travel

are owned by two unrelated people. And you can't even claim that people should trust the .TRAVEL website more than the COM website.

I think these new TLDs are just meant for BRANDING purposes, simply because most nice names out there are either taken, or being peddled by domainers asking for astronomical prices. As a result, the travel agency industry are complaining that they could no longer get brandable names when they believe they are more legitimate than the guy who owns a nice COM domain who is just collecting money from domain parking with no substantial content.

Setting up new TLDs, is also a supposed solution to BYPASS the search engines. You can test this theory by asking yourself: Why compete with Google Search Engine rankings, when "canada.travel" is easy to memorize? People can type the URL right away.

So again, these new TLDs are meant for losers to bump themselves up into the limelight. If you are already enjoying high search engine ranking with your COM website, it would be a nuisance to be forced to buy the .TRAVEL extension when it doesn't serve you any purpose anymore. So i understand why Monster.com is upset about the new .JOBS TLD.

 

[nowhammies]

The only way to get .travel out there is if the big players like Lunn Poly and Thomas Cook (at least in England) started redirecting their .com domains to this extension to get it seen...

I somehow doubt they will do that.

Kate makes the point that hits home, it is all about trust...people are aware of the top three extensions and their own country code but the more random the extension the less people are going to trust it. People trust the mark of ABTA though for the most part people do not have a clue what it is; they have seen it for years but if you expect people to suddenly accept something without knowing the nuances of what they are actually seeing they will not get it, no matte how cool it looks.

(ABTA is the governing body of travel agents in England and even they do not use the extension)

Poly and Cook? Who are these people? I've never heard of them, I live in the US. That's my point. People in China have probably never heard of them. I think there's a limited view here that needs to be expanded. Count the number of people in the world, and then the number online. Now look at population growth and the increasing personal wealth in developing nations. China, India, Brazil, to name but a few. Are we supposed to believe that only those lucky enough to grab a non contorted domain name should be able to have something that's meaningful to their industry? I think time will tell of course, but I remain reasonably optimistic.

 

[alien51]

Now look at population growth and the increasing personal wealth in developing nations. China, India, Brazil, to name but a few.

These guys already have their Country level extensions. If it's still not enough, they can still battle it out with many unused .INFO or .NET versions anyway.

Are we supposed to believe that only those lucky enough to grab a non contorted domain name should be able to have something that's meaningful to their industry?

The answer is yes.

Even in the non-online world, brand names get patented. If that "non-contorted" name is already taken, you have to think of a new name for yourself.

So your argument now boils down to simply that new TLDs must be created to give chance to others to own beautiful short names, because everything else is taken.

If that's the argument, then why not create:

canada.hotels
canada.casinos
etc.

And besides, creating more "unrestricted" new TLDs will just attract domainers and cybersquatters first, who would intend to buy them first to flip them later at a profit. Legitimate end-users always come in late, and will complain again that all nice names are taken.

 

[nowhammies]

The thing is alien, lots of short and memorable names are not TM infringements and probably won't be. Also I believe .hotel is an actual forthcoming extension. Otherwise some good points raised by you here.