Earlier today, I posted a guest article written by Rob Sequin discussing the choice of domain names by tourism organizations and CVBs. The list that was provided was quite extensive. A few months ago, I also posted an article specifically about Visit geographic domain names.
What do you think is the best domain format for a tourism/convention bureau type organization?
“What do you think is the best domain format for a tourism/convention bureau type organization?”
It depends on the price and the type in traffic on a pure GEO.
A good pure geo .com might cost you one to three million ish, a visit prefix could cost low six figures or less if you get lucky
Traffic or Branding, they both have their own benefits.
Visit Geo’s are well used by Tourist Boards, very brandable call-to-action and much cheaper.
I have a few of them and if I can’t get in the low six figures for them I’ll be the one developing them 😉
Do you want to buy some Visit domains from me ? You can develop them then.
Trust domainers to vote for pure geo.com
.info works well
There are lots of .info tourist sites in Europe
e.g.
http://www.spain.info
http://www.vienna.info
http://www.austria.info
http://www.slovenia.info
Other than the fact that .info is newer than .org and .com for tourist information sites it’s actually the best extension in terms of semantic meaning.
Depends of the target country. In Spain it will be mainly .es or .org.
I think pure geo .com best suites this industry. But i do have invested on .Net and .us
cometoasia net cometoeurope net wentto us and some others
Not sure if they have any values.
The average Internet user is more familiar with geo.com domain names and will most likely type that into the browser. Geo.org is a close second.
All good comments above and great poll.
I voted for visit prefix because ultimately that is the goal of tourism organizations.
The pure geo might be impossible or at least expensive to acquire.
I guess .info has its place since information is informacion in Spanish and probably other languages too.
I also like the use of geo .org for tourism promotion but that would be my choice after visit prefix and pure geo .com.
Elliot
Relating to your blog post permit me to share a story with you.
The sullivan county ny visitors association uses SCVA.net as their moniker AND THAT KILLS ME!
a) .net is the lowest of tld’s
b) SCVA says nothing and worst va is most Offen associated with veterans administration certainly NOT a tourist destination
In September 2011 I hand registered VisitSullivan.com and offered it for FREE to the government of sullivan county ny and they NEVER took me up on my free offer.
Guess you could say my vote is Visit______ .com
elliot..this is of the subject but there has been alot of talk about .co’s lately and i saw on nascar yesterday that godaddy was pushing the godaddy.co domain.
my question is , do you see .co’s as a good investment for the near future.
The pure geo.com, for my money. Other tlds will always lose traffic to the .com. As for VisitGeo.com, it’s like David Costello said in his Domain Sherpa interview – as the owner of PalmSprings.com, he often gets free advertising from the owners of VisitPalmSprings.com. For example, a radio spot, telling listeners to “Visit PalmSprings.com”. Thanks.
That being said, it’s good to see how everyone rates the next best thing, since pure geo.com’s are spendy to come by these days.
The bigger question is, how much does any of it really matter and how much of is just irrelevant theorizing?
We could probably argue some sort of hierarchical structure with City.com being the best, but really, when you look at how a Tourism Bureau is going to market itself, presuming they don’t make a standard “Domain Mistake”, is there a meaningful difference between VisitDesMoines.com and DesMoinesTourism.com when its written on the side of a bus shelter?
Of course not.
This is one of those questions that tempts itself to be answered with domainer-logic.
“is there a meaningful difference between VisitDesMoines.com and DesMoinesTourism.com when its written on the side of a bus shelter?
Of course not.
”
One is a call-to-action domain that inspires/suggests people to do something and the other isn’t.
Many of the Biggest tourist destinations and Cities around the world have already gone with the Visit prefix to market with.
VisitBritain.com
VisitEngland.com
VisitScotland.com
VisitChannelIslands.com
VisitLondon.com
VisitWales.com
VisitIreland.com
VisitDublin.com
VisitMonaco.com
VisitSingapore.com
VisitJordan.com
VisitPortugal.com
VisitNorway.com
VisitSweden.com
VisitStockholm.com
VisitDenmark.com
VisitFinland.com
VisitIceland.com
VisitOslo.com
VisitCopenhagen.com
VisitLuxembourg.com
VisitBerlin.com
VisitBarcelona.com
VisitMalta.com
visitCyprus.com
VisitMaldives.com
VisitJamaica.com
VisitMexico.com
VisitCalifornia.com
VisitFlorida.com
VisitOrlando.com
VisitTampabay.com
VisitLasVegas.com
VisitMaine.com
VisitPhoenix.com
VisitVermont.com
VisitVancouver.com
VisitVirginia.com
VisitPalmSprings.com
VisitRhodeIsland.com
VisitDetroit.com
VisitDenver.com
VisitUtah.com
VisitDallas.com
VisitHouston.com
VisitPhilly.com
VisitJacksonville.com
VisitSalake.com
VisitRaleigh.com
VistNC.com
VisitDelaware.com
VisitPittsburgh.com
VisitPortland.com
VisitSanAntonio.com
VisitSanDiego.com
VisitStLouis.com
VisitNebraska.com
VisitCharlotte.com
VisitManchester.com
VisitBirmingham.com
VisitCardiff.com
VisitBrighton.com
VisitLiverpool.com
VisitEstonia.com
VisitPanama.com
VisitChile.com
VisitCostaRica.com
VisitAruba.com
Its doubtfull they would pay much to change over to theplacetourism.com
“This is one of those questions that tempts itself to be answered with domainer-logic.”
Domainer-logic says type in traffic is always better but it still has to be weighed up against the real cost of aquiring a good pure Geo.com.
its not 1995 any more and as nice as pure Geo.coms are the best ones would cost a fortune.
Yup VisitPlace.com are the MOST popular OFFICIAL tourism sites, globally.
There are a lot more than the long list you have given us. Well done for digging all that info out !
Sorry it’s taken years for me to reply . Only just seen your posting !
Those official sites that have VisitPlace.com domains have possibly spent MILLIONS of dollars or pounds marketing them by now……. so they have got them FOR GOOD !!
Anyone want to buy some?
any geo.com would be best because of the credibility because it is the generic term, easy to remember, with the dominant extension which most internet savvy people are most familiar with.
http://www.CityPartners.com
you can also use travel instead of visit @gazzip
Some people forget the weight search engines attach to the pure generic name, when browsers use only the brand name as a search keyword. VisitDesMoines is not a place. Also, if you have to back up your site by investing millions in offline advertising (i.e.: tv, magazines and bus shelters), just to get people to know it exists, you’re missing the point altogether. Pure Geodomains do not need explaining. They simply are what they are. Any Tourism Board investing hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising is very foolish if putting said money into anything other than the destination brand. drinkcoke.com, instead of coke.com? I don’t think so. The more you invest in drinkcoke.com the more coke.com is worth. If one single TV Spot promoting the brand could be worth millions, how much is the actual brand worth?
Hi Elliot,
Great post. I was just doing some research for a CVB client of mine on some recent domain name sales of visitgeo domains and came across this.
The move to visitgeo domains vs pure geo was mostly pushed by two things
1. pure geo too expensive
2. move by many CVB/DMO organizations changing their names to Visit GEO vs. GEO convention and visitors bureo
I personally prefer pure GEO..
I vote for Go prefix. Go is short. Gomaichau.com for example.
You have set “Go, See, Discover, Explore or other prefix” in a same line, if you set “go” stands alone as “visit” in the poll, the result will be different!