SolomonIslands-Hotels.travel is a new web portal that is opening the door to independent travelers wishing to book services with local tour operators and accommodations. “The portal is an important addition to our country’s tourism promotion channels,” said the Solomon Islands Minister for Tourism, Mr. Seth Gukuna. “It will not only enhance Solomon Islands appeal, but also enable business to be conducted in this important sector.”

The website is owned and operated by Kerrie and Danny Kennedy of Dive Gizo. Founded in 1985, Dive Gizo is the oldest owner-operated tourism facility in the Solomon Islands specializing in diverse and exciting dives in the town of Gizo. While also operating snorkeling, bush walking, birding, village visits and WWII tours, Dive Gizo places primary important on serving social, cultural, and environmental goals.

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SolomonIslands-Hotels.travel Geared Towards Responsible Travelers

SolomonIslands-Hotels.travel is a new web portal that is opening the door to independent travelers wishing to book services with local tour operators and accommodations.

“The portal is an important addition to our country’s tourism promotion channels,” said the Solomon Islands Minister for Tourism, Mr. Seth Gukuna. “It will not only enhance Solomon Islands appeal, but also enable business to be conducted in this important sector.”

The name “Solomon Islands-Hotels.travel” was a natural choice to the owners, as “hotels” is a significant key word in Web searches and .travel reflects the nature of the site. By using its .travel name, SolomonIslands-Hotels expects to see an increase in independent travelers due to the additional exposure and well-presented information. They are also expecting a broad spectrum of visitors. The Solomon Islands has a variety of activities and special interests that will attract travelers from backpackers to business travelers.

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Travel Technology Is Good for Bottom Line

Fri Nov 21 2008, by Dori Saltzman

Miami –”Technology is the future of the travel industry,” said Alan Gerstner, MCC, president of Travel Doctor Consulting, opening the Leisure Travel Conference’s technology panel. Panel members agreed, adding that especially in these tough times technology can help agents optimize services, increase efficiencies and grow revenue.

“Especially in these tough times, you have to cut back and optimize efficiency using technology,” said David Goodis, CEO of Revelex, responding to the question, “How does your company’s technology increase agent’s bottom line?”

Using a booking engine, such as Revelex, can introduce agents to other products they can sell, like travel insurance, thus creating an incremental revenue stream, which Goodis said agents need to focus on.

Joff Romoff, vice president of sales for Amadeus North America, agreed, saying that the Amadeus GDS is committed to bring alternative revenue sources to North American agents. Romoff told agents that Amadeus will soon be bringing a new traveltrainment product online, which will offer the ability to book new ground services and excursion products.

Bob Maier, president of MailPound, said technology makes it easier for agents to do their job. In particular MailPound makes it easier to communicate and market the products that agents sell through personalized and targeted email marketing materials.

Both Ed Cespedes, president and CEO, Tralliance Corp., the .travel Registry, and John Peters, president and CEO of Triplogy, said technology also helps agents expand their client base.

“It doesn’t matter how much you have to sell, if no one can find you,” Cespedes said, adding that most people first search travel on the Internet. In fact, he said travel is the biggest commerce category on the Web and because of their vast numbers travel companies often get lost in the .com world. Taking on a .travel extension instead of a .com, Cespedes said, will bring more Web traffic to an agent’s site, thereby providing new leads.

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CHINATOURS.TRAVEL DEMONSTRATES SUCCESSFUL BRAND MARKETING WITH .TRAVEL EXTENSION

ChinaTours.travel, owned and operated by the World Panda Travel Group, is a travel wholesaler and tour operator exclusively serving in the Greater China market. ChinaTours.travel markets over 26 years of knowledge operating and managing top notch travel products and receptive services. It provides complete stream-line packaged airline, hotel, cruise, visa, travel insurance to China travel enthusiasts while keeping a competitive edge in pricing, value of products and the quality of service.

Launching Chinatours.travel in March 2008, the World Panda Travel group adopted to .travel with an intention of cutting through the clutter of conventional domain names and making the industry that they are in more easily identifiable.

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FORT LAUDERDALE, FL-November 20, 2008- The Travel Partnership Corporation (TTPC) approved important new policy changes at its Board of Directors meeting in London earlier this month.  Formed to promote .travel and recommend its policies and practices, the TTPC Board consists of key travel industry leaders and meets twice yearly to guide further awareness and usage of .travel amongst the travel industry and travel consumers.

In London, the Board discussed various important policy and procedure proposals.  With a majority of the Board, it was decided to release travel industry names currently on reserve for the further promotion of the .travel top level domain.  Also, the Board added a new sector to the group of eligible travel industry sectors and gave Tralliance, the .travel Registry, the discretion to refund registrants whose name(s) have been revoked, the ability to extend the time available to demonstrate use of registered domain names, and approval to conduct authentication reviews subsequent to name registration as well as prior to name registration.

These policy changes will go into effect on December 19, 2008 after a 30-day comment period.  To review summaries of these policies and provide comments, visit www.ttpc.travel

About Tralliance

Tralliance, the .travel Registry, develops products and services to promote the efficiencies and convenience of e-commerce for travel and tourism companies on the Internet.  Designed to serve the global travel and tourism community, the major aims of the .travel sponsored Top Level Domain (sTLD) are improved Internet identity, creation of advanced distribution channels, and the establishment of a strong trust factor between the industry and its customers.  For more information, visit www.travel.travel.

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The Travel Partnership Corporation hosts its board of directors meeting in London

By eTN Staff Writer | Nov 14, 2008

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL ­- The Travel Partnership Corporation gathered its board of directors in London earlier this week. With the overriding goal to promote the top level domain .travel, The Travel Partnership Corporation and its board meets twice yearly to discuss the state of .travel. At this meeting, the board was addressed by Edward A. Cespedes, CEO of Tralliance and .travel, who reported significant progress with the .travel domain name and its effects on the global travel industry.

In conjunction with the World Travel Market in London, The Travel Partnership Corporation and its board discussed various topics including .travel’s role in the travel community worldwide, further adoption of .travel names by various key industry players, and how .travel will participate and compete in the future of the Internet with new top level domains (tlds) launching shortly.

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FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – NOVEMBER 14, 2008- The Travel Partnership Corporation gathered its Board of Directors in London earlier this week. With the overriding goal to promote the top level domain .travel, The Travel Partnership Corporation and its Board meets twice yearly to discuss the state of .travel. At this meeting, the Board was addressed by Edward A. Cespedes, CEO of Tralliance and .travel, who reported significant progress with the .travel domain name and its effects on the global travel industry.

In conjunction with the World Travel Market in London, The Travel Partnership Corporation and its Board discussed various topics including .travel’s role in the travel community worldwide, further adoption of .travel names by various key industry players, and how .travel will participate and compete in the future of the Internet with new top level domains (tlds) launching shortly.

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The credit crunch, state of the economy, being sustainable, and is it all doom and gloom are just some of the topics touched upon this summary at the European Tour Operators 2008 Congress in London.

Graham McKenzie interviews Heidi Siefkas-Cassemiro, VP of Marketing and PR for .travel registry. They discuss the importance of a .travel url, how search engines work, and competing with .com url.

.travel Featured at The 25th Annual Travel Leisure Conference

.travel invited as featured participants at the Travel Leisure Conference November 15-17, 2008. The 25th Annual Travel Leisure Conference is projected to see record turnouts with over eight hundred travel agents and hundreds of the travel industry’s top executives. Held at the Miami Hyatt Regency, the largest and longest running Travel Trade event presents various educational seminars, workshops, cruise ship inspections, and networking opportunities.

Travel Trade invited the President and CEO of .travel, Edward A. Cespedes, as one of speakers for the technology panel. Taking place Saturday, November 15 at 4:15pm, Cespedes will stress the need to be found on the Internet and how to compete in a world of millions of other travel websites.

As a focal point of the global travel industry, Responsible Tourism will be one of the major workshops and is expected to have high attendance as well as key industry panelists, including .travel. The Responsible Tourism Workshop on Sunday, November 16 from 5:15pm-6:15pm will be a discussion moderated by Jose Luis Cabada, Sr. Vice President of Sunny Land Tours. Invited to participate by Travel Trade and Cabada, Heidi Siefkas-Cassemiro, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations of .travel, will join other industry representatives in this ever apparent key issue.

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