What’s in a name? Better yet, how much is one worth? According to one company, it all depends on whether or not there’s an ‘S’ at the end.

Don’t get us wrong: Having the right URL for a company’s Web site is absolutely vital. The more traffic, the more business, the more profit — it all makes sense.

Case in point: One British travel company handed over a cool $1.1 million to a German competitor for the Internet domain name “cruises.co.uk.” Seamus Conlon, the owner of the company, said it was necessary to maintain dominance in the rapidly growing market for ocean cruises.

Couldn’t agree more. For a British travel agency aimed at developing its cruise business, that’s a great move.

But the company already owned the similar address “cruise.co.uk.”

Conlon went on to say his company wanted the top positions — note the plural — so that his company is the first “port of call” for those searching for deals.

The $1.1 million sum takes the cake for most expensive European domain name purchase, but the more popular “.com” addresses usually go for far more.

The current “.com” record holder is “sex.com,” purchased for $12 million in 2005.

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Tags: domain, expenses, travel, Web site