Protests Over ICANN Delays In Assigning .Travel TLD, ICANN Adherence to MOU with Commerce Department Questioned
The Travel Partnership Corporation (TTPC), a global consortium representing a cross-section of the world's travel and tourism industry, has sent an open letter to ICANN protesting delays in implementation of new Sponsored Top Level Domains (sTLDs) including a proposed .travel TLD. TTPC was formed for the purpose of proving "policy advisory function for the .travel Top Level Domain, a restricted Internet domain space intended to be made available exclusively to the travel industry." In their letter to ICANN, TTPC noted that ICANN's Board has discussed the issue "publicly on more than six separate occasions during the past 12-months, and on December 15, 2002 passed a resolution 'authorizing the President to take all steps necessary to implement recommendations as specified in the Action Plan [to carry out an interim round of introducing a limited number of sponsored top level domain names].'" The letter also noted that "the unending delays in issuing the RFP for new sTLDs jeopardizes a now substantial investment in the .travel proposal."

In a discussion of concerns regarding ICANN's operation, the TTPC letter notes that ICANN's Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) "with the Department of Commerce does set out a timetable for ICANN to develop a more comprehensive policy governing the introduction of new top level domains, including generic top level domains." Furthermore, the letter notes that the MOU requirements regarding new TLDs "is an important goal, and one that we expected the interim round of sTLD delegations would contribute." The TTPC letter included a cc to Commerce Secretary Evans.