For many of us September means the end of summer holidays to Ibiza or family trips to Utah and back to the grindstone of work and school.  Although the summer months for most are over, the celebrations certainly are not.  For the 30^th year running, the world’s tourism community will celebrate World Tourism Day on September 27^th.

Since 1980, the United Nations World Tourism Organization has celebrated World Tourism Day.  The purpose of this event is to raise awareness on the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide.

This year the festivities will commemorate in the vibrant country of Ghana with the theme, ‘Tourism - Celebrating Diversity.’ The overarching tone will be to emphasize the importance of the world’s cultural wealth and the role of sustainable tourism.

Coinciding with World Tourism Day, South Africa takes the entire month of September to celebrate and honor the travel and tourism industry. This year, in anticipation of much travel traffic for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Cape Town is getting prepared.  Through its ‘Live It! Love It! Louder!’ campaign, Capetonians are getting ready to welcome the world in 2010.  Check out the Tourism Month’s Celebrate Diversity news in this article highlighting Cape Town.

.travel in turn is celebrating this month by unveiling its Fall Trade Show schedule as well as a special surprise after the Labor Day Weekend. **Hint: a NEW home page look featuring a NEW .travel video.

What you are doing to celebrate the World of Tourism this month?

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.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL-March 23, 2009- .travel, the travel and tourism industry’s exclusive Internet channel, reports an increase in adoption by major destinations worldwide.  In its short history, the benefits of .travel have been highlighted by the significant number of conversions by destinations and key industry organizations. The next stage of travel on the Internet is led by .travel and supported by the .travel community.

Here is a list of just some of the key travel industry players that have adopted .travel:

www.Colombia.travel, www.Argentina.travel,

www.ElSalvador.travel, www.Utah.travel,

www.Egypt.travel, www.Poland.travel,

www.PhiladelphiaUSA.travel, www.BruneiTourism.travel,

www.SriLanka.travel, www.TurismoChile.travel,

www.Cancun.travel, www.Slovakia.travel,

www.Canada.travel, www.MadeiraIslands.travel,

www.Montenegro.travel, www.Cannes.travel

.travel has become a global travel movement.  The era of when travel destinations competed with the clutter of the .com world on the Internet is coming to an end.  By creating an exclusive travel marketing channel, .travel is an essential tool for all aspects of travel from destinations to hotels to travel agents and more.

To learn more information about .travel, please visit www.travel.travel

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About .travel

.travel is the top-level domain created specifically for the travel and tourism industry. Any participant in the travel industry may own a .travel name. Unlike other top level domains such as .com or .org, relevant content must be published on each .travel site within a year of purchase. For more information on .travel, The Source for All Things Travel, please visit www.travel.travel

Last week, the .travel team traveled to NYC for the world renowned New York Times Travel Show taking place in the Javitz Convention Center. Expecting over 20,000 visitors over the 3 day event, the .travel team chose to participate on Friday, which was a trade specific day filled with industry players from every aspect of travel: travel agents, CVBs, associations, destinations, travel media, and more.  The day was broken into two parts:  the trade only exhibit and seminars and then the larger consumer based show.  Early in the day through the afternoon, .travel shared the exhibit floor with strategic partners such CLIA and NACTA and other companies such as PMG, eWaterways, and more.

Following the trade specific show and seminars, the official ribbon was cut to open the full exposition floor where countries, states, and resorts such as Canada.travel, Brazil, Argentina.travel, Aruba, and Thailand featured  their products to fellow industry peers and then to end consumers on the weekend.

Knowing that grabbing attention of your industry peers is key, many exhibitors offered wine, cheese, giveaways, and entertainment. The .travel team’s highlights were:

1) Vermont-the best cheese by far!

2) Aruba-the best dressed dancers.  Wow what colors!

3) St. Lucia-the best band playing soothing music from the Caribbean.

4) Utah.travel-the best giveaway with a free visit to the Grand Canyon.

After the show, it was time to explore the city that never sleeps! Indeed, there is no city like NYC! With so many attractions to offer from Times Square, the Empire State Building, Central Park and more, one can never forget New York. What a wonderful place to host a travel industry event! Nothing is better than, “the Capital of the World.”  It was an amazing trip and show.  The .travel team looks forward to participating in The New York Times Travel Show again next year!

If you attended and would like to add your favorites, please comment.