Welsh businesses support new gTLDs

Survey suggests businesses would welcome opportunity to use .wales or .cymru

Some 59 per cent of Welsh businesses and other bodies support the move to generic top level domain names (gTLDs) ‘.wales' or ‘.cymru', according to a survey commissioned by the domain registry service Nominet.

This is despite many businesses across the the UK arguing that the process is too expensive and unnecessary.

The survey, conducted by economics and policy consultancy LE Wales, questioned 250 business managers based in the principality.

The survey found that 40 per cent of the business respondents thought a country-specific domain name could help promote their business in Wales and 30 per cent thought ‘.wales' would help promote their business globally.

Another survey, which interviewed 1,003 consumers and was also conducted by LE Wales, showed that 69 per cent of them would also support the move to a new gTLD.

"There are two financial benefits: it will help with outside funding through businesses and tourists wanting to invest in Wales," said Nominet director of finance and business development, Glenn Hayward.

"Using the Welsh domain would also increase consumer trust, this would allow local producers to have their own Welsh online presence and lead to greater e-commerce activity," he added.

However, rival bidder to Nominet for the domain names, DotCYM, believes the benefits to new gTLDs such as .wales and .cymru are social as well as financial.

"There are other things to consider such as the community. To recognise Welsh culture and language is of upmost importance," said Sion Jobbins, chief executive of DotCYM.

Icann will accept applications for new gTLDs from 12 January 2012. Each application will cost $185,000 (£116,045).