I do
think it about time that .travel becomes a TLD, the travel industry from an
economic stand point is one of the largest producers of jobs in the world. I
have been involved in tourism on the state level for over 12 years and the
local chamber, including chamber president. I also own 3 motels and a
restaurant, plus I am starting construction on a new resort
motel this June. I do believe my experience gives me a good perspective of
the issue.
To promote
tourism we purchased a large number of .travel names from new.net. We developed
a business plan that incorporated some of the top travel destinations in the
world W/ common names such as "motel", plus activities, tours,flights and
lodging throughout the world. We plan to use all of our .travel
sites for the good of the tourism industry.
The problem I see
is that new.net has sold, and is currently selling .travel sites. Their is no
restriction on what name you would like to register even to this
date.
I do believe
those names should be grandfathered, with the restriction that they are in
someway related to the travel industry. If names such as Boston are
to be reserved, for who? the city, the chamber, the VIC, in most
cities they are made up of different people and different board of directors,
and in most cases they do not even work together. That does not even
mention cities with the same names in more then one state or country. The other
question is common words such as "motel" that according to the current
application can not be used, who can use it?, or will it remain unused for
ever,unlikely!! Who will decide who can own it? The only fair way is to
grandfather the names, and require them to be travel related. I do not
pretend to know what out come will be, but I have researched and
found one of the best cyber lawyers in the country to advise me on this issue. I
hope they do the right thing for myself and an industry which has been suffering
since 9-11.
Sincerely,
Concerned .Travel "Owners"