Will Dot Travel Be A Winner?

Dot Travel has officially joined the top level domain name club, and according to the Travel.Travel website, the .TRAVEL registry will start registering names some time in October 2005.

Will dot travel be a winner? I personally don't like it; the number one reason for my dislike of the extension is the fact that I can't register any .TRAVEL domain names! Dot travel has way too many oppressive (that's right: oppressive!) restrictions. Here's a taste:

"[.TRAVEL is] restricted to the use of travel agents, airlines, bed and breakfast operators, tourism bureaus, and others in the travel industry..."

OK, now add this:

"You can only register a name that is publicly used by, or associated with, your organization"

So if, for example, you owned a bed and breakfast called "FOO B&B", you would be allowed to register foobb.travel, or some other name that is close to your business name. You would not be able to register the name bedandbreakfast.travel. No generics! Nonsense!

My next reason: too long. I don't think that the average Internet user is going to get used to typing a six character extension any time soon. Fact: I still have friends and relatives who think that .COM is the only extension on the Internet!

Want some more? OK, how's this: scandal! It appears that The International Air Transport Association (IATA) cut a secret deal with ICANN that will result in the IATA having full control over the .TRAVEL namespace. Smells funny, eh? Click here to read more about the scandal...

Ok, so what do we have so far: too many restrictions, too long and an ICANN scandal. Not good! I wish the new namespace well, but I personally don't have much confidence in dot travel.

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