.Barcelona is launched with the activation of 3,948 domains in three months.
The reserved domains have been active since 21 March, whereas the on-demand assignment has begun.
3,948 domains have been purchased since the reservation period was opened last January.
Barcelona has thus joined other cities that also feature their own domain, such as .nyc, .paris, .london, .brussels, .wien or .berlin.
The .barcelona domain is already in operation. As of 21 March, all those domains that had been requested since January, when the reservation process for this extension was opened, were activated. In the launching period, during which the reservation of priority names could be made, a total of 1,356 .barcelona domains were registered. As of 21 March, when the free registration began, the number of registrations increased to 3,948.
The implementation of the .barcelona domain has caused a lot of excitement. Proof of this is that during the first day of the open registry of .barcelona (on 21 March), 1,782 domains were registered.
The .barcelona domain is owned by the City Council and managed by public tender award to the puntCAT Foundation, a non-profit organisation that has also managed the .cat domain since 2006 and works on the promotion of the Catalan language and culture in the field of the Internet and new information technologies.
The .barcelona domain had been requested by the Barcelona City Council and had been awarded by ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. The City Council launched the domain with the aim of helping companies and entities that want to use it to take advantage of all the positive values that represent the city of Barcelona and help them with their projection.
.Barcelona by sectors
(see data in the annex)
In order to guarantee the correct allocation of domains, the City Council and the puntCAT Foundation established a period during which people, entities and companies had a preference when reserving their domain name. This period lasted two months (from 12 January to 15 March), and 1,356 domains were registered.
42.4% of the 1,356 domains registered during the launch period have been registered by companies, 17.88% by public administrations, 5.90% correspond to technological portals (such as Twitter or Apple), another 5.90% to entities and associations and only 0.66% of the registrations correspond to individuals. 13.86% of the domains correspond to generic concepts (such as architect, painter or lawyer). As for the remaining sectors: education (4.57%), health (3.52%), sports (2.14%), culture (1.84%) and media (1.40%).
Regarding domains registered by Public Administrations, 72.13% are domains registered by the Barcelona City Council and 20.49% correspond to Turisme de Barcelona.
If we look at company registrations, it should be noted that 37.9% are allocated to all types of businesses (such as industry, consultancy, technology, law or architectural firms …), 15.65% to shops, 5.04% to international companies and 41.91% to companies related to tourism.
Within tourism, 53.11% of the registered domains correspond to hotels, 26.56% to tourist portals, 13.28% to restaurants and 7.05% to tourist centres.
.Barcelona –a strong domain compared to other cities
The .barcelona domain is the first and only domain being launched on a country level that refers to a city. Soon, .madrid will also be launched, although, in this case, the domain will represent the Community of Madrid.
Thus, Barcelona is part of the fifty leading cities in the world that have launched their own Internet domain, such as .nyc, .tokyo, .paris, .london or .berlin, among others.
In the priority launch phase, .barcelona has achieved a total of 1,365 registered domains, which exceeds the 1,000 expected registrations and is a very good figure with regard to the priority launches of other cities. It has only been surpassed by .london with 9,000 and .paris with 1,600, both cities with many more inhabitants than Barcelona and which have deployed a very intense communication campaign throughout the year prior to its launch.
Launch comparison with other cities
Barcelona 1.356 domains
London 9.000 domains
Paris 1.600 domains
Brussels 656 domains
Vienna 475 domains
Berliin 199 domains
.Barcelona – a tool to position oneself on the Internet
The .barcelona domain is an important tool that helps to position oneself favourably on Internet search engines, whereas its extensions are highly relevant when it comes to planning a successful digital communication strategy. In addition, it is a new tool for generating the identity of the digital community of Barcelona.
Barcelona’s City Council has set out to work so that .barcelona becomes a reference domain for the city and, therefore, establishes as a requirement that the contents of the website with this extension are linked to Barcelona or its sphere of influence. This link with Barcelona’s community can be applied to multiple activities in various sectors, such as culture, tourism, commerce or education, among many others. The first domain that decided to use the new extension is the participation website of the City Council, https://www.decidim.barcelona,as a way to clearly reflect how the .barcelona extension approaches its citizens.
Regulating the .Barcelona domain
The domain regulation is based on rules approved by Barcelona’s City Council,in accordance with the ICANN’s international rules, with the aim of protecting geographic names, icons or local landmark spaces, public authorities and services within Barcelona’s sphere ofinfluence. For this reason, the Barcelona City Council, as a domain operator, has reserved names, including neighbourhoods and districts – “santandreu”, “barcelona” –, registered city brands – “bcneta” –, city services – “010informacio”, “ciaj” – or emblematic city spaces – “tibidabo”, “parkguell” –. In order to guarantee the domain to its owners, should they request it, institutions, entities and groups have been informed about the importance of reserving and buying their names, for example, “sagradafamilia”.
Wide dissemination of .Barcelona
To guarantee the correct allocation of domains, the City Council, through the Communications Department, has coordinated an intense dissemination campaign since its inception in January. Thus, the website ‘domini.barcelona’ has been put into operation, where all related information can be looked up, whereas informative conferences have been scheduled that are aimed at specific groups in the city, such as those linked to tourism or culture.
Annex
Domains registered during the launch period
Public administrations 244 17,88%
Companies 575 42,40%
Generic concepts (architect, painter, lawyer …) 188 13,86%
Technological portals and social networks (Twitter, Apple …) 80 5,90%
Entities and associations 80 5,90%
Educational sector 62 4,57%
Health sector 45 3,32%
Sports sector 29 2,14%
Cultural sector 25 1,84%
Mass media 19 1,40%
Names of individuals 9 0,66%
Total domains 1356 100%
Public Administrations
City Council 72,13%
Turisme de Barcelona 20,49%
Other administrations 13%
Metropolitan area 2,05%
Companies
Businesses 37,9%
Commerce 15,65%
International companies 5,04%
Tourism 41,91%
Tourism Field
Hotels 53,11%
Tourist portals 26,56%
Restaurants 13,28%
Centres of tourist interest 7,05%
