“With .travel, we’re raising the ‘trust factor’ with both the industry and consumers. Trusted TLDs directly impact how much e-commerce happens, how we deal with others in the industry, and how consumers will find us and whether or not they trust what they find on the Internet.”

Ron Andruff, President and CEO Tralliance Corporation
 

The “Big Story”: Consumers to Gain “Smart” Travel Directory with www.directory.travel

For consumers, the .travel Directory will deliver more precise online results to their travel queries, while providing greater ease in purchasing from travel suppliers. Based on a proprietary travel taxonomy (or classification system), the Internet’s most extensive travel classification directory (according to Tralliance) match buyers to sellers with an efficiency that has never before been seen on the Internet. www.directory.travel will become the primary source point on the Internet to find the travel service or product provider that matches one’s needs.

Here’s how it works: When someone searches the database, it’s not like regular internet search crawlers. Instead, searches are drawn from the specific travel database. One can include search terms as broad or narrow as needed (the latter providing the best returns), from country level down to specific adventure activity within a region. Then, only the entities that match the precise profile data will be delivered. It’s based on the “concept search approach,” meaning that searching by different concepts (e.g., island, five-star hotel, spa, windsurfing, etc…), the consumer can secure a 100% match by “drilling down” as deep as the consumer wishes.

www.directory.travel will arrive after the first three months of the .travel authentication process. Once .travel site registrants complete their individual profiles and a database-driven online survey about their business, the directory.travel initiative will commence (currently slated for a December 1, 2005 launch). To be included in the directory, businesses will self-select travel terms within the directory.travel directory applicable to their operation (e.g., where they go, what languages they speak, what adventure travel activities they cover, number of travelers, etc.). The new directory will initially launch only with authenticated members that have filled out their profiles.

Tralliance is part way toward completing the directory. However, some terms and classifications are not yet included. Andruff notes that early profile “loaders” or “testers” will help the organization dial in the terms needed to complete the taxonomy. Tralliance indicates that www.directory.travel will be a “pristine directory” and a service to the industry. In plainspeak, what this means is that there will be no ads, no keyword purchases or other distracting placement ploys at this stage of the initiative. When pressed on the topic of where Tralliance plans to generate revenue, Andruff indicates that its revenue will derived from registration fees from TLDs. At a later date, Tralliance plans to include value added services and enhancements services to enhance commerce to travel and tourism services.

Adventure travel businesses stand to gain a great deal on the consumer side with the advent of the new directory. Consumers will be more easily connected to outfitters and specific adventure travel providers. Tralliance says it plans to promote directory.travel heavily starting in December during its major PR and marketing launch, which includes trade journal ads in Decemeber 2005 and January 2006, followed by public relations and grassroots efforts.

“Directory.travel will be a tremendous tool for consumers,” says Andruff. “We’ll help to make people aware of the tool initially. And, with most effective Internet tools, just as Google experiences, we’re confident that a viral effect will take place.” Tralliance anticipates 10s of thousands of people will soon be using .travel, expecting word-of-mouth to drive the most traffic and usage.