Country-Dot-Com

The Internet is rapidly overtaking personal recommendation as the number one source of travel and tourism information. Therefore, in order for destinations to succeed in their efforts to attract visitors, they must design sound online marketing and branding strategies. Given the fierce competition for the attention of Internet users, online marketers must secure memorable web names and addresses. In the case of a nation willing to promote itself online as a destination, no other brand name could be more distinctive, easy to remember, and inimitable than the country's own name. This study investigates the extent to which countries have adopted their names as brands and secured ‘country name-dot-com’ domains to market themselves on the Internet to global audiences.