CircleID

The management team at Tralliance Corporation is grateful for Henry Hardevelt's initial review of the .travel Internet domain initiative. But since factual reports support the integrity of both positions in a debate, we are obligated to ensure that errors or omissions to such an important review of the .travel initiative are not overlooked.

How Internet domain prices are determined

Accusing Tralliance Corporation of a "shakedown" is both inappropriate and offensive, and certainly not expected from an organization of Forrester's stature. Allow me to clarify that the registry (Tralliance) does not set the price for .travel domain names. Rather, the price is determined by the individual registrars, all of whom purchase .travel domain names on an organization or company's behalf for the same price. The registrars then package the domain names with a variety of value-added services, determine an appropriate mark-up for their administrative expenses and margin, then set the retail price.

Referring to the cost of a .travel domain name as the "Street price" is a shameful characterization of what is considered standard business practice for all other sponsored top level domains.

The view inherent in your statement that one brand, having supposedly paid more money to establish its name in largely one market, should have a priority right over another in any other part of the world (which may or may not have spent as much money marketing in that region) is myopic at best and ill-informed at worst. The fact is, as time goes on, www.deltaairlines.travel (the example used) will become more intuitive because the name is exactly that of the company and declares what it does.

Re-branding via a new domain name is a non-event

The aspect of "re-branding" is also a non-issue. If one's so-called ".com" brand is indeed strong, such an entity could point that URL at any domain and still reap the rewards of the investment made in the brand. And given that the Internet is only ten years old, it would be logical to conclude that consumers expect it to morph and evolve into something more than it is today.

Like many other methods of reaching one's consumer market, .travel is a valuable communications channel that will undoubtedly grow to become one of great importance to both consumers and suppliers.

Popular search engines will find .travel names

Forrester should not imply that .travel domain names will not show up in desirable positions in .com searches. This is categorically untrue. In fact, under Questions & Answers on www.travel.travel , you will note that the Registry has offered vetted suggestions to assist registrants in positioning their .travel names for search optimization. Moreover, the intention of Google, Yahoo, et al, is to bring users results—responses to their queries, hence there is no reason for these search engines to segregate .travel domains from the rest.

Analysts and critics also need to fully understand the contents and purpose of www.directory.travel. The Directory is a "utility," not a search engine. And we clearly do not expect it to unseat the giants. The Internet community, worldwide, uses similar utilities every day for all manner of important tasks. The .travel utility, once fully populated, will enable users to find comprehensive information about the global travel and tourism industry in one place by simply typing: "directory.travel" into any browser. Research conducted by a number of highly reputable organizations suggests this will be a welcomed alternative for consumers who have become increasingly frustrated by the "noise" that accompanies searches in the .com domain.

Online changes are inevitable

With respect to the comments about staying with the status quo and overcoming inertia, these are two completely different things.

Status quo implies that nothing ever changes. This certainly does not apply to the future of the travel industry or that of the Internet. Inertia is something that shifts ever so subtly that one hardly notices it happens. Time, and time alone, overcomes inertia.

The dynamic nature of the Internet explains why changes can happen in a flash and how the community of users is transformed from observers to enthusiastic participants overnight. The remarkable evolution of the major search engines stands as one of the most compelling examples in our recent past.

But what is "recent past?" Is it defined as all of barely ten years of the commercial Internet? We contend that is no "past" at all.

Accordingly, the time limits cited are irrelevant in terms of the Internet and its inexorable march forward. The medium expands exponentially every day. The logical expansion of the DNS and names space—viewed in that light—suggests something different from the chaos of anonymity that characterizes the ".com" space today. A "declared industry" is one that is proactive in distinguishing itself. It is hard to envision a better branding tool.

A global perspective

The global travel and tourism industry is vastly larger than what it appears to be. It is made up of hundreds of thousands of enterprises of all sizes in all parts of the world. These enterprises can bring their products or services to the global marketplace in a uniform and reliable manner through .travel. This means that anyone using the .travel domain will find products and services from tourism partners across the globe, all presented in a manner that is free of the commercial contamination that characterizes the .com space.

Given the prohibition of advertising, key word buys and the ability to purchase preemptive placements, the .travel Directory is destined to become a trusted global repository of information on travel services. Moreover, www.directory.travel will allow someone in a country such as Korea to query the directory using a Korean character set, even though the profile selected as a result of the query—say a hotel in Rio de Janeiro—was actually entered in Portuguese. The Directory will empower the global travel industry to meet the demands of increasingly sophisticated consumers, and this represents a world far beyond the "status quo."

.travel provides informational integrity

The Internet should not be about protecting a dominant company or organization. Rather, it should be about ensuring the entire industry is presented in the same objective, balanced manner. .travel delivers this opportunity to every member of the global travel and tourism industry for the very first time.

We appreciate that Forrester will undoubtedly continue to review market acceptance of the new .travel domain in the months ahead, and may well modify its view of the initiative along the way. We also acknowledge Forrester's right to make critical assessments of the initiative to the extent such assessments are warranted by objective review, but would also ask for the opportunity to provide and/or clarify questions of fact in advance of publication. In this regard, please refer to the ".travel—fact vs. fiction” document appearing on www.tralliance.travel, and do not hesitate to call me with any questions.

In summary, please do not lose sight of the fact that the .travel Registry officially launched to the global travel and tourism industry leadership just three weeks ago, on January 29, 2006. As such, I respectfully submit that it was irresponsible to report its premature demise.

Ron Andruff, President and CEO
Tralliance Corporation
The .travel Registry