18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

TUI AG is currently Europe’s leading travel group, with over 30 million customers trusting the company with their holiday and travel planning needs each year. TUI is committed to providing specialty travel experiences to clients around the globe, whether their intended destinations are exotic locales or relaxing retreats near to home. TUI posted a 2010⁄2011 turnover of over EUR 17.5 billion, with underlying operating earnings of over EUR 600 million, and the company is proud to boast a network of roughly 73,700 employees.

TUI’s predecessor, the Preussag company, was founded as a coal-mining interest in 1924, and later became an important player in German industry. In 1997, Preussag acquired Hapag Lloyd AG, one of Germany’s greatest transport and travel companies, with a large selection of aircraft, cruise ships, and travel agencies. Realizing the opportunities available in this new market sector, the company sold most of its non-travel-related assets, and began dedicating itself to the provision of outstanding travel planning services. In 2002, the company officially adopted the TUI AG name, and since that time has continued to build its world-class reputation.

The company has used its TUI trade name in commerce since the 1970s, and also began registering trademarks for the name at the same time. Now TUI AG is the registered owner of numerous TUI trademarks worldwide.


A. TUI’s Business Sectors

TUI is Europe’s leading travel company providing tour operators, retail shops, online portals, airlines and incoming services for over 30 million customers. The TUI company comprises three corporate divisions – TUI Travel, TUI Hotels & Resorts, and TUI Cruises. A summary of the specialty services provided by each division is outlined below.

A.1 TUI Travel

The TUI Travel division employs over 53,000 people and operates in 31 markets worldwide, providing customized vacation experiences. Packages are grouped under four main headings, in order to deliver a wide range of experiences for the company’s clients. These groups include: Mainstream, Accommodation & Destinations, Specialist & Activity and Emerging Markets.

The Mainstream sector partners with well-known affiliate brands to bring customers the recognized services they have come to know and trust. Accommodation and Destinations provides over 21.4M room-nights per year. The Specialist and Activity division provides opportunities for both education and adventure packages, as well as sports and entertainment. Finally, the Emerging Markets section brings travelers of new source markets including Russia, India, China and Brazil an opportunity to experience TUI products.

A.2 TUI Hotels and Resorts

With 249 hotels and 160,000 beds in approximately 30 countries, TUI Hotels & Resorts is the largest holiday hotelier in Europe. Combined with the division’s extensive network of booking specialists across the globe, TUI Hotels and Resorts is ready to meet the needs of the company’s multi-million client base.

A.3 TUI Cruises

TUI Cruises, with services provided by Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten GmbH and TUI Cruises GmbH, offers travel packages tailored to the needs of a wide range of clients. A number of specialty themes and events, such as golfing, family fun and music adventures, are designed around cruise packages.


B. The Mission and Purpose of the “.TUI” space

TUI intends to use the new TLD space to provide a comprehensive communications platform, serving its broad network of corporate affiliates, partners, agents, and clients. Targeted development and use of the “.TUI” space will support the company’s strategic business and marketing objectives. The space will enable brand empowerment, self-determined domain allocation, and an extension of TUI’s brand protection and control through the creation of a unique TLD architecture.

Through the “.TUI” TLD, the company will be able to showcase its vast array of services, promote its affiliates, and provide up-to-date information to its Internet visitors. The space will act as a first point of contact for many first-time visitors, who may be unfamiliar with TUI’s many offerings as well as an efficient guide for longstanding users interested in reconnecting with the company. Additionally, the TLD is intended to serve as a source of trusted information for millions of Internet users worldwide, who have come to rely on TUI’s services, standards of quality, and dependable reputation.

B.1 Structure of “.TUI”

TUI will manage the new space under a single-registrant policy, with all second-level registrations held directly by the company itself. TUI will carefully manage the selection of all domains, to ensure ease of navigation within the space. The company intends to create an intuitive, inviting domain network, where visitors can easily locate the content and services sought. Links will take customers from general information pages to specific content, and provide easy navigation to connected corporate partners’ micro-sites. Individual users may also create individual travel portals to track their voyages and share stories via social media. Besides obvious brand, brand architecture or product hierarchy given structures a part of the “.TUI” space logic develops organically out of generic search focuses of the users.

General sites, such as “hotels.TUI”, “resorts.TUI” or “honeymoon.TUI” will provide compiled information about the services offered by the company at large, with detailed descriptions and package information offered via clearly-labeled links.

It is anticipated that trusted affiliates will have the opportunity to license domain name registrations within the “.TUI” space. Under these second-level registrations, such as “affiliate.TUI”, corporate partners will have the opportunity to create “micro-sites” to advertise their services offered in connection with TUI products, and to reinforce their TUI partnership. Accordingly, clients seeking branded services offered in connection with TUI will find information about these destinations and travel packages under the appropriate, easy-to-locate “.TUI” domain.

B.2 Benefits of “.TUI”

Accordingly, TUI believes that use of the new TLD will benefit the company, its customers, and general Internet users alike. TUI anticipates increasing the amount of information and interactive customer content available on the new TUI websites. Therefore, the company believes the TLD will experience increased traffic and user interest, as potential customers and existing clients become familiar with the space. TUI plans to develop a high level of trust among Internet users, with the branded nature of the space acting as a “seal of quality” providing security and authenticity, and increasing the reputation of the TUI brand.

It is expected that TUI’s clients, affiliates and visitors will benefit from the new TLD, where they can be assured of the company’s diligent monitoring efforts and privacy protection. As the space will operate under a single-registrant model, TUI will be able to control the content displayed on “.TUI” sites and, accordingly, consumers will experience safer, more trustworthy interactions.

As mentioned above, the TLD will follow a single-registrant model, wherein all registrations within the space are held by TUI itself, and affiliated entities may apply to license “.TUI” domains. The Legal Department of TUI shall review every license request and, in its sole discretion, may approve registrations and grant licenses on a case-by-case basis. Only TUI’s affiliates will be allowed to license “.TUI” domains, and in every case the registrant of record for all domains shall be TUI. In all cases, TUI shall monitor the use of all “.TUI” domain names to ensure that the content of the associated websites remains current and appropriate to the TLD space.

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