Travellers offered new Lonely Planet country guides

Lonely Planet has announced that it will be launching a new series of full-colour country guidebooks this month.

The Discover series will begin with nine new titles, covering Australia, France, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Japan, Thailand and Europe.

All of the publications have been organised to help travellers focus on a destination's most famous attractions, sights and experiences.

Lonely Planet revealed that it developed the Discover series following "extensive research" with people seeking "inspiring, highlights-based guides".

Last month, the company helped travellers who were stranded following the volcanic eruption in Iceland by making 13 of its European iPhone city guides available free of charge for four days.

More than three million guides were downloaded during April, making them the most popular free travel application available through iTunes.

Tom Hall, Lonely Planet's travel editor, said: "The rate at which the iPhone city guides have been downloaded has been phenomenal."

The company has released books covering cities including San Francisco, Melbourne and Madrid.