Lonely Planet voted best guidebook series!

Lonely Planet has won the Wanderlust award for Best Guidebook Series!

The award was voted for by 2500 readers of travel magazine, Wanderlust, and the final positions were based on an average percentage for the entry so that the result was based on satisfaction rather than the number of votes.

This is the second time that Lonely Planet has received the accolade after coming top at the 2003 Awards. The Lonely Planet website, LonelyPlanet.com, also rated highly, coming fourth in the Top Website category with 81.4%.

Lonely Planet’s Travel Information Manager, Tom Hall, who collected the award, is clear on what makes Lonely Planet guidebooks stand out from the crowd: ‘We tell it like it is, with a smart, no-bullshit style – it’s important travellers get the real story. We also try to raise a smile and we never take ourselves too seriously… Our pioneering spirit keeps us searching for new experiences to offer travellers, from East Timor to the Arabian Peninsula, we now publish a guide to every nation.’

The award was presented at The Daily Telegraph Destinations show at Earl’s Court, London on the 5th of February.

The Wanderlust travel awards are regarded as the UK’s most authoritative travel survey due to the magazine’s well-travelled readers.

Last month Lonely Planet was voted the 5th most powerful brand in the Asia-Pacifi c region in Brandchannel.com’s 2004 Readers Choice Awards for Brand of the Year.

Other recent awards include:

• LonelyPlanet.com winning the People’s Voice award for best travel site at the 8th annual Webby Awards.

• The Kindness of Strangers, was selected as the winner in the Best Travel Essay category at the eighth annual Independent Publisher Book Awards.

• Lonely Planet won three awards in three separate categories in the distinguished Society of American Travel Writers Foundation Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition.