Lonely Planet celebrates 100 millionth guidebook

Lonely Planet is celebrating the release of its 15th guide to Australia, which is the 100 millionth book to be published in its 37-year history.

To mark the occasion, the company will launch a competition on January 29th encouraging members of the public to share their favourite travel images online.

People who post the best photographs on the Lonely Planet website will have the chance to win a round-the-world trip for two or one of 200 Nokia handsets.

Tony Wheeler, the company's co-founder, said travel experiences are at the heart of everything it does.

"This is why we decided to reach out to our travel community with a competition to build the world's largest online mosaic of travel images to support us having published 100 million guidebooks," he added.

"Pictures are a wonderful way to tell a story. They can celebrate memories of travel and capture the essence of our experiences."

The Australia guide was the first Lonely Planet publication to reach a million copies in print in July 1999, followed by books on India, Thailand and New Zealand in the following years.

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