U.S.Department of Commerce and .travel Issue National Tourism Week Challenge

May 3, 2006

U.S.Department of Commerce and .travel Issue National Tourism Week Challenge
May 3, 2006 – The U.S. Department of Commerce has teamed up with the Tralliance Corporation as part of National Tourism Week, May 13-21. The duo is challenging states, cities and tourism entities across America to protect their tourism assets by registering their .travel Internet domain names.

Ron Andruff, president and CEO of Tralliance points out that there are still a number of U.S. heritage sites, state parks and city names on the .travel Place Name Priority List that remain unclaimed.

U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing & Services Al Frink says "We encourage U.S. cities, towns, national parks, landmarks and other publicly entrusted destinations to protect their unique identities by registering their names. These are America’s treasures, which visitors at home and abroad will want to find as they create their travel itineraries online."

"U.S. travel businesses and organizations must move quickly to realize the value of their industry-exclusive .travel Internet domain in the global context. Protecting our nation’s valuable tourism assets can be done by simply registering them with their .travel domain names," adds Andruff.

"This challenge is about preserving our domestic tourism assets for future generations," says Andruff. "As the global travel and tourism industry continues to expand, it is absolutely critical for the United States to protect the natural, cultural and historical sites we hold sacred – and more importantly, which draw millions of tourists to our shores every year. National Tourism Week provides the perfect platform upon which to challenge state tourism boards, city governments and other relevant administrations to take a proactive role in the global .travel movement."

Tens of thousands of .travel domain names have been registered so far, with global travel industry leaders such as NTA, Best Western, Carnival Cruise Lines and Disney among the first to register their company’s .travel domain names.

Andruff says he values the support from the U.S. Department of Commerce and Assistant Secretary Frink and hopes that issuing this challenge prior to National Tourism will spark a national movement among the U.S. travel and tourism community to register their place names.

"We want to encourage all U.S. travel and tourism entities to protect and maximize their tourism assets, as Canada has done through its Canada.travel initiative," Andruff notes. "As the number one economic driver in most countries in the world, tourism generates a substantial amount of revenue for every U.S. city and state, and therefore these assets need to be monetized accordingly. By encouraging the registration of every state, city and national place name in the .travel Registry, Tralliance Corporation and the United States Department of Commerce are better able to serve both arriving international travelers and the U.S. travel industry as a whole."

To read the full news release, click here. To learn how NTA can help you be authenticated for a .travel domain name, click here. Authentication is a member benefit without any charge to NTA members at this time. .travel domain names are given on a first-come-first-serve basis, therefore NTA urges you to get authenticated and register your chosen domain name(s) as quickly as possible.