In July 2007, the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau changed its e-mail domain from name@sfcvb.org to name@sanfrancisco.travel, becoming one of the first in the tourism industry to adopt the industry-exclusive top-level domain.

The new domain, created by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and administered by Tralliance Corporation, launched worldwide in early 2006. It is offered to tourism-specific businesses and associations after a verification process, and it provides consumers and Internet users peace of mind when searching online for trustworthy travel industry organizations. In addition to convention and visitors bureaus, some of the only 18 types of businesses that qualify for the .travel domain include: travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, cruise lines, airlines, theme parks, national tourism offices, tour operators and travel media.

“I am very proud that the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau is among the groups spearheading the movement toward industry vertical Web domains,” said Joe D’Alessandro, SFCVB president and CEO. “The fact that we’re one of the first in the tourism industry to adopt the domain name is yet another prime example of San Francisco on the forefront of technology.”

While the Bureau’s e-mail addresses have made the .travel switch, its Web site, onlyinsanfrancisco.com, remains unchanged.