Whether you use them as measures of success or just enjoy them as excuses for a celebration, milestones matter writes Ethan Gelber of WHL - one of the growing number of growing organizations with .travel domains.

In July, whl.travel hit the 100-country mark. As of mid-July 2009, this global network of local travel professionals spanned 174 destinations in 79 countries, with further expansion into approximately 100 more destinations (including 23 new countries) in the coming months.

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The .travel team has chosen to showcase two “New Faces in .travel” stories this week to further illustrate that .travel truly is The Source for All Things Travel.  With the combination of Yucatan.travel, Ole.travel, community news briefs, and videos, it is evident that every sector of the travel industry is represented within the .travel community.

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The Yucatan is a magical land where the past becomes the present every day. With its roots on display at Chichen Itza, Uxmal, or Ek Balam, the Mayan culture is a component of the Yucatan’s culture. With fascinating gastronomy mixing its heritage of Mayan recipes with Creole influences, the culinary exploration of its rich history is a fun way to entice your palate and brush up on your history knowledge, too.

Fusing many of the ultimately unique components of the Yucatan into its promotional efforts has been done with Yucatan.travel. Formerly marketed under a .com address, the Yucatan government adopted .travel to elevate the exposure of its beauties to the end consumer. Knowing that travelers are looking for more specified information, the Yucatan government aligned its sales and branding goals in its new website.

After its launch, www.Yucatan.travel received over 194,000 visitors to its site. This year, the organization expects to receive roughly 223,000 visitors, which would represent a 20 percent increase.

“We adopted .travel because we know that today, travelers are searching on the web for specialized information,” stated Saul M. Ancona Salazar, general director of the Secretariat of Tourist Promotion of the State of Yucatan. “With our Yucatan.travel site, we are seeing increasing numbers of site visits.”

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FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - July 16, 2009- .travel congratulates whl.travel on its continuing success and its recent announcement that it’s expanding into more than 100 countries worldwide. Catering to independent and experiential travelers headed off the beaten path, whl.travel is a network of grassroots tourism professionals who own and operate booking sites for accommodations and tours in their local markets. By only choosing whl.travel partners that clearly care about their customers, staff, suppliers and the destination, whl.travel provides travelers with real travel experiences that engage, enrich and inspire by connecting them to the special character of a place, unlike the “fast food” experience with many other travel organizations.

“We are growing a critical mass of .travel sites and seeing real success,” commented Ethan Gelber, Media Liaison for whl.travel. “These sites are part of one of the largest online booking networks that taps into the strengths of local tourism experts who, alone, are local leaders, but together have become a forceful global presence for the right kind of tourism, bringing to major markets all the local opportunities that can have such a positive impact on hosts and visitors. .travel provides whl.travel with a clear message and instant validation of being a global travel provider.”

With destinations from South Africa to Brazil to Greece and Indonesia, whl.travel is not only a powerful network of great breadth and depth, but also award winning. whl.travel was recently revealed as one of five winners of ‘Globetrotting for Good - The Condé Nast Traveler Challenge’, as well as a finalist in the Responsible Travel category of TravelMole’s Web Awards 2009. With attention drawn through these contests and clients’ reviews, whl.travel and its new affiliate in Santa Marta, Colombia, will be featured in the September 2009 ‘Power of Place’ issue of Condé Nast Traveler magazine.

For travelers who want to connect with a destination while booking with locals who really care about their compatriots, communities, culture, and environment, visit www.whl.travel or subscribe to its blog via RSS at http://www.whl.travel/blog/.

For more information on registering your .travel domain name or news on other .travel community members, visit www.travel.travel

Ole! Travel is expanding beyond its U.S. client base to a global audience and is using www.ole.travel to do that. Olga Alexander, president of the company, said that .travel identifies the company as a global operator. Ole! Travel itineraries combine a vast array of exotic, adventure, eco, historical, and cultural vacations. From white water rafting through jungles and volcanoes, shopping in Indian markets after snorkeling amongst coral reefs, and learning colonial heritage without missing time well spent on a pristine beach, Ole! Travel offers everything. For more information, visit www.ole.travel.

With over twenty years in the business of selling travel, OLE! TRAVEL is well known as a travel seller with a focus of making fantasies become reality. OLE! TRAVEL believes in “leaving it to the experts” as this puts the relaxation back into vacation for its clients from even the first planning stages. With established relationships among the travel industry and providers, OLE! TRAVEL pairs low airfares with individualized itineraries including handpicked local tour companies from all corners of the world. It is with such great service and track record that the OLE! TRAVEL team wanted to expand from its mainly US client base to a global audience. Thus, the decision was made to launch OLE.TRAVEL.

When asked about going global and launching with .travel, president of OLE! TRAVEL, Olga Alexander stated: “.Travel identifies Ole as a global operator. The biggest advantage of .travel is the recognition and position it gives us as a global enterprise and not just a local one.”

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10 Reasons to Register Your .travel Name

Often times, the best way to convince an audience to buy a product or service is to have an endorsement. So, here is a list of various travel industry organizations that range from destinations to tour operators to responsible tourism initiatives.

If they are on board, what is your travel business waiting for?

10) Cancun CVB: www.cancun.travel

Cancun.travel is the official travel information website for Cancun, containing all the best information on Cancun hotels, restaurants and nightlife, and where to go for water sports, eco-parks and Mayan archaeological sites. The site is everything you need to plan your fun-filled Caribbean vacation of a lifetime.

9)  Utah: www.utah.travel

The website responsible for the promotion of all things travel for the State of Utah and its home for the “Life Elevated” campaign. Maybe you have seen their commercials?  Click here to view one of Utah.travel’s comical clips.

8)  Poland: www.poland.travel

Poland’s official travel website promotes its natural beauty and history, inspiring visitors to enjoy over 887 towns like it largest city, Warsaw, and its smaller villages with sentimental charm. Check out Poland.travel’s impressive stand at ITB 2009.

7)  World Hotel Link: www.whl.travel

whl.travel is a travel portal that provides a connection between travelers and local hotels and tour operators.  whl.travel prides itself as a site for people who really care about local destinations; people, cultures and environment. With a franchise model, whl.travel has local partners in each destination who do all the things best done locally, including working directly with the local accommodation providers and assisting travelers in person on site.

6)  SOS: www.sos.travel

SOS.travel is an online portal where users can access the latest critical information and communication tools in anticipation of, or in response to, natural and man-made crises with potential impacts on tourism.

5)  Climate Solutions: www.climatesolutions.travel

The aim of this UNWTO website is to be the central gateway for information on solutions available to help the tourism sector respond to climate change. Registration is free.  Join Climate Solutions in the global effort towards achieving Climate Neutral Tourism.

4)  TIAC: www.tiac.travel

TIAC, Tourism Industry Association of Canada, is voice of the Canadian Travel and Tourism business.  It has been on board with .travel since 2006 and a great supporter with its own .travel site as well as influencing thousands of other Canadian travel entities on board, including www.Canada.travel

3)  Promedia: www.promedia.travel

Promedia.travel is a business-to-business publishing company serving the travel and meetings industries. Promedia fosters an active community of buyers by providing the most timely and relevant news, trends, key industry insights and pragmatic advice.

2)  Discover: www.discover.travel

Discover.travel offers only Luxury Custom-made Trips from Pre-Selected Destinations, Accommodations, Packages and Tours to Travelers and MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conventions and Events) clients seeking Differentiated Travel Experiences.

1)      Go Global: www.goglobal.travel

GoGlobal.travel is a leading travel wholesaler, dedicated to travel trade partners only, selling to over 15000 retail travel agents and tour operators.

Take the opportunity to make the wise business investment as those above did by adopting .travel.

To see if your .travel name is available, simply visit the www.travel.travel homepage and scroll to whois box on the bottom of the page.  Enter in your .travel name and VOILA….

Get on board with the .travel movement.

Names such as: touramerica.travel, skiholidays.travel, bargaintours.travel, tourwinecountry.travel, midwesttours.travel, and staywithus.travel are available!

Remember that no other domain name says what you do better that .travel.

You are in the travel business, get yourbusiness.travel today.

Ibiza’s dedicated travel website is continuing to attract visitors, receiving nearly 85,000 visitors last year.

Ibiza is located off the east of the Iberian Peninsula and its website, launched in 2007, is a part a marketing campaign to boost destination’s profile.

The number of visitors to www.ibiza.travel this year is expected to surpass the 2008 numbers according to Ibiza’s Consell Insular d’Eivissa.

The first quarter of 2009 has already attracted up to 40,000 visitors with an estimated 75 percent accounting for unique visitors.

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Ibiza, in the Balearic Islands off the Mediterranean coast of Spain, is crediting the .travel URL for its Web site, www.ibiza.travel, for increasing its profile in the market, according to Heidi Siefkas-Cassemiro, vice president of marketing and public relations for the .travel URL.

“We adopted ibiza.travel to support the local Ibiza travel industry,” stated Josefa Marí Ribas of Ibiza’s destination marketing organization, Consell Insular d’Eivissa. “With such great importance to the global tourism industry, .travel was a logical choice to promote our accommodations, sports, culture, and gastronomy.”

In 2008, the site received nearly 85,000 visitors. With nearly 40,000 visitors in the first quarter of 2009, the marketing organization predicts total visits for this year will well surpass 2008.

Additionally, the ibiza.travel site is attracting new visitors, according to Ribas, noting that about 75% of all Web site views are from new, first time viewers.

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