.gent

a new top-level domain

Applicant

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The Ghent city council announced in early June, 2001, that the local government approved the application for the .gent name suffix to ICANN. Council members agreed upon the proposal after discussions focusing on enhanced protection measures a .gent top-level domain extension can provide. The .gent nTLD campaign will be partnering with CityTLD.eu, Combell and Sensirius. Together, the organizations will support the .gent campaign with know-how in the technology and domain name policy fields.

Mission

Following the intentions expressed by cities such as New York, Paris, and Berlin, the Belgian city of Ghent is campaigning for its own new top-level domain. The name, .gent, written according its local spelling, is the first city TLD representing a community in Belgium and it is the first city in the north-western European region of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (BENELUX) to disclose its campaign. The city itself includes a history rich in commerce and presently includes a greater metropolitan area that is home to almost 600,000 residents. The annual Ghent Festival attracts some two million visitors making tourism an essential component of the municipality's economy.

Advantages

Local residents and businesses will realize the greatest advantages of a .gent top-level domain. By including the .gent name when choosing a domain name, they will automatically and intuitively more strongly connect their online endeavors to the city. Hotels, restaurants and museums are just a few of the many businesses and organizations that will be able to more effectively market to tourists visiting Ghent's picturesque cityscape. Moreover, domain name owners with a .gent extension can be assured that their sites will be appropriately shown in search engine result lists as the top-level domain is an important factor in determining a site's placement in search results. A city TLD is also an effective tool for the city's government offices as citizens obtaining information from a .gent website are ensured that the site originates from a trusted source.