The Seychelles Islands, an otherworldly archipelago of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, is an island-hopper’s paradise. Famous for having some of the best, pristine beaches in the world, Seychelles invites one to walk along powder-soft sands and relax in the sublime, turquoise waters.

With such attractive options for travelers from near and far, the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) decided in 2007 to adopt and launch www.Seychelles.travel. “As .travel is a global initiative for the travel industry, we felt it was necessary to adopt .travel,” stated Karen Confait, e-marketing manager of the Seychelles Tourism Board. “We wanted to move away from the millions of .com websites; establish ourselves as an authenticated, reputable travel website; and differentiate ourselves from our competitors. It also provided more visibility on search engines.”

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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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Cascada Expediciones is a Chilean tour operator dedicated to develop eco-friendly trips in Patagonia, Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. With over 15 years of experience in offering a wide range of exciting trips, Cascada Expediciones has been recognized for two consecutive years as one of the Best Adventure Companies on Earth by the editors of National Geographic’s Adventure Magazine. Based in Santiago, Chile, Cascada Expediciones prides itself on providing quality tourist services, which are environmentally sustainable, meanwhile facilitating the discovery of nature and offering the best work-life balance for its staff.

As the only Chilean outfitter rated in by National Geographic’s Adventure Magazine, Cascada Expediciones has been ranked on the list in both 2008 (ranked 50 out of 157 total companies) and 2009. “Being on this list makes us very proud on what we have been doing and gives us an extra incentive to push ourselves and work harder,” stated Daniel Sanhueza L., Communications Manager of Cascada Expediciones. “We want to be in the top ten next year.”

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This week’s newsletter showcases a “New Faces in .travel” article about  Cascada.travel, one of the Best Adventure Travel Companies in the world.  In reaction to the recent months with the global economy and Swine Flu, .travel reports on the rise in Mexican tourism, highlighting various South of the Border .travel supporters such as VisitLosCabos.travel, MyMexico.travel, Cancun.travel, and Yucatan.travel.

As a good finale, the .travel newsletter features .travel users and their videos. This week the Seychelles.travel and its video, “Rush Hour” seemed appropriate as it is now summer and all are thinking of a relaxing getaway.

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Putting itself on the map as a popular tourist destination, Sri Lanka unveils its culture and tourism attractions with www.srilanka.travel

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL-May 19, 2009- The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau is witnessing the benefits of using the .travel domain name with www.srilanka.travel. Since its launch in 2007, the srilanka.travel site has received over 1.6 million page views.  Of those, over 600,000 were unique, first time visitors.

Kicking its promotional efforts into full gear with www.srilanka.travel, the country joins many other popular tourist destinations and organizations in using .travel for its website and emails.

“When we were developing our website initially, we decided to use the .travel domain because it was globally accepted,” said Managing Director, Mr. Dileep Mudadeniya, of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau.

In fact, the Sri Lanka Tourism website will be revamped with a new look and feel in line with a new brand strategy launching in June 2009

To plan your dream holiday in Sri Lanka, explore wildlife, and experience an island of small miracles, visit www.srilanka.travel.

For more information on .travel, The Source for All Things Travel, visit www.travel.travel

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TT Bureau February 1, 2009

.TRAVEL, the new domain for the travel and tourism industry has already carved a niche across the world.  Recently, TRAVTALK has tete-a-tete with Edward A. Cespedes, CEO, Tralliance and .travel about the domain, its importance to the travel trade industry and India operations.

Justifying the importance of a completely special domain for travel and tourism industry, Cespedes said that the .com world is becoming saturated as new top-level domains are coming up and are going to cause consumer confusion.  “We feel that now is the time for the travel industry to identify itself with its own domain,” he explained.  Cespedes emphasised the growing importance for a niche domain in view of the present global economic downturn.

According to him, the meltdown is going to impact travel and tourism in a very big way.  As a result, for their survival, a lot of industries will have to find more efficient and more intelligent ways of acquiring those fewer customers.  And that includes being found more effectively on the Internet, and that’s where .travel domain names can really help, which is not a major investment.  For this an interested party needs to invest about US $90 per year.  “We are at an important juncture as the industry begins to take the domain name up,” highlighted Cespedes.

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Adventure in Green with GreenSpot.travel

‘Green travel’ is a term that a fast-growing number of travelers are identifying with as their preferred style of seeing the world. Often seen as a very broad term, the phrase encompasses several positive ideas. “Our selection of .travel as an integrated component of our name and brand, combined with today’s very identifiable meaning of the word ‘green’, allows travelers to easily relate our purpose and offering to the type of eco-friendly trip they’re looking for, and greatly eases our ability to be seen in the green travel space online,” says Richard G. Edwards, co-founder of GreenSpot.travel.

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