A call for fairness by ICANN and Tralliance
- To: stld-rfp-travel@xxxxxxxxx
- Subject: A call for fairness by ICANN and Tralliance
- From: Marvin D Webster <mdwebster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 21:14:31 -0700 (PDT)
- Reply-to: mdwebster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I urge ICANN to ensure that if a new .travel top-level domain is introduced, existing .travel customers around the world will continue to have a place in the name space.
When I first registered several .travel domain names with new.net I fully expected .travel to soon become a top level domain. In the meantime I began working on the server back-end applications I am building for my .travel domains (taxi.travel, limo.travel and shuttle.travel).
I envision these domains becoming community centers where business travelers will be able to pre-arrange their ground transportation just as they do their air travel and hotel accommodations.
Recently I discovered that Trallaince did not even include taxis, limos or shuttles in their list of potential users of the .travel domain. The following is clipped from their RFP application at http://www.icann.org/tlds/stld-apps-19mar04/travel.htm.
(begin snip)
Industry Segment/Number of Potential Registrants
Travel agents/100,000
Tour Operators/1,500
Airlines (scheduled and charter)/500
Hotels/Resorts/550,000
Restaurants/350,000
Car Rental Companies/500
Cruise lines/500
Bus/Coach Operators/15,000
Bed & Breakfast Houses/100,000
Ferries/5,000
Passenger Rail Lines/500
Theme Parks/5,000
Convention & Visitor's Bureaus/5,000
National Tourism Offices/200
Travel Guide/Magazine Publishers/500
Camp Facility Operators/100,000
Computer Reservation/Travel Technology Providers/100
Travel-Consumer Research Orgs/100
Total: 1,234,400
Travel agents/100,000
Tour Operators/1,500
Airlines (scheduled and charter)/500
Hotels/Resorts/550,000
Restaurants/350,000
Car Rental Companies/500
Cruise lines/500
Bus/Coach Operators/15,000
Bed & Breakfast Houses/100,000
Ferries/5,000
Passenger Rail Lines/500
Theme Parks/5,000
Convention & Visitor's Bureaus/5,000
National Tourism Offices/200
Travel Guide/Magazine Publishers/500
Camp Facility Operators/100,000
Computer Reservation/Travel Technology Providers/100
Travel-Consumer Research Orgs/100
Total: 1,234,400
(end snip)
I dare say more business travelers use taxis, limos and shuttles than ferries. Tralliance estimates 5,000 ferries could potentially use .travel domains, yet makes no provision for taxi, limo or shuttle companies.
I encourage ICANN to let free enterprise prevail. If the .travel TLD must be sponsored, at least require the sponsor to grandfather the domains many of us have invested major resources in.
Marvin David Webster
INTERNET TAXI NETWORK
Dallas, TX
469.569.1321
Marvin David Webster
mdwebster@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Internet Taxi Network