Monaco Tourist Office
30 All. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
34000 Montpellier
France (Monaco)
+377 92 166 166
instagram: @visitmonaco
youtube:
youtube.com/@VisitMonaco_Official
facebook: fb.com/visitmonaco
X: x.com/VisitMonaco
linkedin:
linkedin.com/company/visit-monaco/
more about Monaco
Phone Book of the World.com
Wikipedia
Timeline
1863 Prince Charles III of Monaco (1818-1889)
gives the permission
to Francois Blanc (1806-1877)
to create the casino
which becomes a major European attraction.
1860s - 1870s Rail connections
made Monaco more accessible
to tourist from Paris.
1870s - 1914 The Belle epoque area
helps Monaco to become
one of Europe's premier
Luxury destinations.
SBM, the Société des Bains de Mer
plays a major role
in developping
Monaco's Luxury image.
1950s Grace Kelly (1929 - 1982),
one of the most admired
American actress of all times
ads a lot of glamour
to the Principality of Monaco.
Wedding with Prince Rainer III (1923-2005)
18-04-1956
1970 Establishment of the Direction
du Tourisme et des Congres.
1971 Foundation oin the USA
of the Fire and Alarm systems company
Monaco Enterprise
by Clarenvce Antony Monaco
and his son
Eugene A Monaco
from Spokane, Washington
1982 Princess Grace died
in a car accident 14-09-1982,
3 years before internet domains
came into existance.
Her legend lasts.
1985 Registration of the
first internet domains.
It took almost a decade before
.com Internet domains
started to be used
in the Unites States.
3-5 years later they
were also adopted in Europe.
1995 Geo Domain "Monaco.com"
registered by Eugene A Monaco,
from Fire and Alarm systems
Monaco Enterprise.
Monaco.com is a typical case
of how a "pure geo domain"
was registered during
the very early years of the internet.
The profile were people
from the US
(the country where Internet was born)
that were already online
and that wanted a website for a project.
1996 The Principality of Monaco
gets it's proper
international dialing code +377
leaving the French phonesystem +33
21-06-1996
This becomes possible
after the fall of the Berlin wall
making the phone code of East Germany +37
available for 10 new country codes.
The editor of the Global Visit List
was in Monaco that day
and saw the exitement
over the new country code.
The new country code was attributed by the
International Telecom Union in Geneva.
Before internet domains existed
catchy phonenumbers
were very important
in marketing.
1997 Registration of the
first Visit domains in California.
1997 / 1999
The Monaco Tourist Board
starts a webpresence
using the domain
Monaco-congres.com
registered
21-07-1997
Monaco-Tourism.com
registered
06-10-1999
2001 VisitMonaco.com
registered 02-07-2001
There is a possibility
that a domain as emblematic
was already registered before 2001
but early domain registration data
is hard to find.
2001-2002 The domain VisitMonaco.com
was redirected to Tldi.com
with the possibility, during 18 month,
to send an email about aquisition interest.
2003 January
the domain VisitMonaco.com
was aquired
by the Monaco Tourist Office.
The sale was handled
in a private transaction.
Very interesting
concerning the
Visit phoneomeon in general.
The direction du Tourisme
decided not to go for the
"pure geo domain"
Monaco.com
used at that time by
Monaco Enterprises Inc,
an Alarm Systems company
from Spokane, Washington, USA
"Monaco" was the family name
of the company founders .
A lot of money would have been
necessary to buy the domain.
It might even have been necessary
to buy the entire Alarm Systems company
to get hold of the "monaco.com"
domain.
Aquiring VisitMonaco.com
was a much easier
and cheaper solution.
The Principality of Monaco
always open to different cultures
might have been inspired
by some US websites
that had already adopte "Visit"
first VisitMonaco.com website from 2003
2003 May
launch of VisitMonaco.com
previously used
bulky, hyphenated domains,
Monaco-Tourism.com
Monaco-Tourisme.com
are redirected to
VisitMonaco.com.
The choice or Monaco
to use
the "Visit+Geo Domain"
VisitMonaco.com
instead of the "Pure Geo Domain"
Monaco.com
contributed to establish
the Visit Phonemenon
globaly.
At that time there were about
200 active Tourism websites using "Visit"
2004 logo of the Visit Monaco website
2008 Inspired by Visit Monaco
the Kingdom of Morocco
finaly adpts the same Visit Style
launching Visit Morocco.com
.
2011 A new logo is implemented
2018 A new logo is created
to strengthen the "Visit Monaco" branding
"visit " is added to the logo
The new logo is announce 09-01-2018
2019 Monaco Inc,
the alarm systems company
from Spokane gets sold to
Lomete Capital partners.
The buyers of the company
see the value of the Monaco.com domain
and seperate if from the professional activity
of the
alarm ststems.
The company from Spokane
registers a new domain for it's website
monaco-inc.com
The domain Monaco.com
is sold to a AI startup.
With "Visit" having become so popular
the Principality has a perfect domain
for a tourism website.
Most tourist expect "Visit Monaco.com"
and no longer "Monaco.com"
to be the address
making the Visit domain
far more
valuable
than the pur geo domain.
2026 The Monaco Government
Tourism and Convention Authority
reveals the new visual identity
of the Visit Monaco brand.
Le logo is announced 12-02-2026
The logo,
prominently showing the world "visit"
was designed to reflect
the positioning of a heritage in motion.
the word "visit" is hand-drawn
in a lively and spontaneous style,
introducing a human
and emotional dimension.
The logo is complemented
by an emblematic monogram,
conceived as a contemporary seal
evoking the coat of arms
of the Principality.
Talking to many different
tourist boards
the editor of the Global Visit List
was captivated the learn
that a multiple of tourist boards
were inspired by the
glamour of the "Visit Monaco.com"
website so they adopted
the same pattern
for their own destinations.
Thus the glamour
of Princess Grace that had died
3 years before internet
domains
were invented,
the reputation of the Principality
and the beauty of the
Visit Monaco.com website
had a global impact
on Tourism Marketing.
Inspired by Monaco
many
other destination
in particular those in Italy
change their
communication
to "visit".
Today
"Visit Geo domains"
are become
significantly more important
than "pure Geo Domains".
Even though "visit"
is an English verb,
using the "Visit + Destination"
naming convention
has become the universal,
gold-standard blueprint
for global tourism websites
from French speaking countries.
Offers from Expedia
Ad Agency
The website VisitMonaco.com
has been helped by the
creative agency
Colibri
Visit Domains
and Tourist Boards
in neighbouring countries
Monaco is surrounded by France
and close to Italy
Check out other Tourist Information
Visit France.com
Visit Italy.com
