Dot-travel domain comes a step closer

Thursday, 22 Aug, 2003 0

The mission to get a dot-travel domain name for the travel industry is set to move a tentative step forward on Monday, when one of the deadlines for the sponsored Top Level Domain application closes.

US company Tralliance is currently trying to get approval from ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) for the sponsored dot-travel domain name. Last October IATA and Tralliance agreed to fold their two competing dot-travel applications into one in the hope that this would increase their chance of success.

ICANN approval is a crucial part of Tralliance’s plan to be the “definitive directory of all travel-related information on the Internet with advanced search and navigation capabilities.”

It claims that if it is able to put its directory plans into action users will be able to do extremely advanced searches to find the company that best matches their needs. It says its search will be more effective than the searches currently available through the internet as they will be limited to travel sites only.

However the company claims that it can still go ahead with its directory plans without ICANN approval, stating that the dot-travel domain name ”is not the driver behind the Company’s plans, rather it is an addendum.”

Meanwhile US domain name firm New.net has already sold thousands of registrations for dot- travel addresses. However because the domain name has not yet received approval by ICAAN these sites are only accessible to people with New.net software or who have an ISP that is partnering with the firm.

It is possible that ICANN could approve the dot-travel TLD by the end of the year.

Tralliance president and CEO Ron Andruff told TravelMole: “We are encouraging ICAAN to keep that timeline. Albeit in the last weeks of the year it would still be in 2003. “

He added: “The whole industry wants it. ICAAN is not a judicial body to say it can or cannot be allowed. If the criteria are met it has to go forward.”

See next week’s TravelMole for an in-depth interview with Tralliance president and CEO Ron Andruff