diff --git a/lib/geocoder/lookups/maxmind_geoip2.rb b/lib/geocoder/lookups/maxmind_geoip2.rb
index 8ada99d3db89c4d3665d2bb626c8b906a9ff1b40..ebe81a178b0734e6dfa184bb7816959ec0c6d514 100644
--- a/lib/geocoder/lookups/maxmind_geoip2.rb
+++ b/lib/geocoder/lookups/maxmind_geoip2.rb
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ module Geocoder::Lookup
     end
 
     def query_url(query)
-      "#{protocol}://geoip.maxmind.com/geoip/v2.1/#{configured_service!}/#{URI.escape(query.sanitized_text.strip)}"
+      "#{protocol}://geoip.maxmind.com/geoip/v2.1/#{configured_service!}/#{query.sanitized_text.strip}"
     end
 
     private # ---------------------------------------------------------------