Domain name reservations with French regional extensions have been available for several weeks. The new domain name extensions – .paris, .bzh, .alsace and .corsica – were eagerly awaited by local authorities and businesses.

The benefits of these domain extensions were already mentioned – Geographic expansion allows communities to develop tourism activities more effectively in the region. Companies can make a regional presence an element of communication.

Creating Custom Extensions

In 2012, ICANN authorized the creation of 2000 new Top Level Domains (TLDs). Deployment started in 2014.

The management of new extensions has been delegated to the organizations that made the creation request. For example, the extension .bzh is managed by the Regional Council, in association with AFNIC which is in charge for the handling of the .fr domain name.

The creation of new extensions was partly motivated by the success of the historical extensions. Nowadays it is almost impossible to have a generic domain name with the .com extension.

To avoid being a victim of cyber-squatting, one of the major weaknesses of historical extensions, the vast majority of new extension managers have decided to put in place rigorous eligibility rules. Booking a regional extension usually requires demonstrating its physical location in the region or ensuring that the domain name will be used to promote it.

Four “regional” extensions for France

Four regional extensions have been created for France and its region. They are .paris, .corsica, .alsace, and .bzh.

These extensions are Geographic Top Level Domain, or GeoTLD. This designation can be misleading. ICANN refers to geographic as extensions representing a territory, an ethnic group, a language or a cultural community.

The domain extension .paris

The name of the city of Paris is a real brand. The power of attraction and fascination of the capital is not to be demonstrated. Paris is synonymous in many countries of romance, travel, luxury and gastronomy. Paris represents an almost obligatory passage of tourists who come to France, the most wanted tourist destination worldwide. A .paris website can be valuable asset for attracting visitors and reaching out to your Parisian clients.

One of the most recent and striking examples of this power is the acquisition of PSG by the QSI investment fund, linked to the state of Qatar. The new owner quickly changed the name of PSG in Paris-SG.

A company in Paris whose activity is linked for example to tourism, therefore, has every interest in obtaining a .paris domain name! It can also be used by companies to define their content or just make adorable and creative domain names such as visit.paris, welove.paris etc.