The Shape of the new Welsh web

As we celebrate the first birthday of .cymru and .wales it is already evident that the landscape of the Welsh web is changing. As you can see from our latest infographic businesses both large and small are transforming their online offerings and appealing to customers both locally and worldwide. With some of Wales’ most well-known and influential public bodies, including The National Assembly for Wales the Welsh Rugby Union, The National Eisteddfod for Wales and Welsh Government, transferring to .cymru and .wales domain names, it is clear that businesses within Wales are recognising the value of a Welsh national web domain.

While big businesses are picking up the new domain and running with it, medium and smaller businesses are also enthusiastically taking up their national web domain and using it to their advantage. This isn’t just happening in Wales’ largest cities either. While our research has shown that the most tech savvy places in Wales are Cardiff and Swansea, with new business registrations also concentrated in the capital, rural parts of Wales are also experiencing significant growth of their online presence.

Online development in parts of Mid-Wales for example has been exceeding new business registrations in the area. This suggests that traditionally offline local businesses like shops or tourist destinations have recognised the advantages of using the .cymru and .wales domain, enabling them to compete more successfully both locally and internationally. This increased online presence is mirrored by the figures released by the Welsh government which suggest that room occupancy in guest houses and hotels rose by 6% between 2014 and 2015.

With research indicating that the most popular words in .cymru and .wales domain registrations included “eco”, “new”, “house”, “hire” and “holiday” it is perhaps unsurprising that tourist figures for hotels are increasing in line with this. This is just one of the interesting new statistics we found from a year of .cymru and .wales registrations – you can see some of our others in our latest graphic.

Our research also showed that the number of freelance and personal web addresses increased with one in thirty of our domain names including one of the top ten Welsh surnames. This also shows a potential increase in the number of freelance or local, family-run businesses moving online.

The exciting first year of .cymru and .wales has provided a new online foundation for the continuing growth of the new Welsh economy. After only a year since the .cymru and .wales web domain launch it is clear that Welsh businesses both online and offline have an extremely bright future with more opportunities to retain their local roots while competing internationally and taking on the world.

To view more interesting statistics on .cymru and .wales registrations please see our latest infographic.