America is voted top for drivers - CALIFORNIA's Highway One was hailed as the world's number one greatest drive by 20% of Holiday Auto's customers.

The car rental giant surveyed 3,500 of its most frequent hirers to determine the most popular driving route from around the globe, with the USA coming out on top.

Closer to home, the A82 between Fort William and Loch Lomond in Scotland was hailed as having the most spectacular back-drop for a scenic drive.

Setback for sun-seekers

THOUSANDS of sun-seekers had their trips cancelled after a major tour operator and its associate firm ceased trading.

Up to 20,000 people who had made advance bookings to destinations such as Greece, Cyprus, Portugal and Croatia with Golden Sun Holidays or Airglobe Holidays were unable to travel.

All customers should be able to get their money back through Golden Sun's £9.8 million bond with Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (ATOL), the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said.

Markets to feature

THE increasing popularity of breaks combining city stays with a chance to visit a Christmas market has seen the launch of a dedicated brochure from Thomson Holidays. The new programme features 20 citites from Munich and Vienna to New York and Dubai. Departures are available from Birmingham as well as London.

Call 0870 6061476 for information.

Holidays to help families

ONE-STOP family travel firm takethefamily.com, will give £1 from every holiday sold on its website to help less fortunate families.

Take the Family has teamed up with the Family Holiday Association to raise money.

The FHA specialises in helping provide holidays to families who can't afford a break or who have to miss out due to disability, bereavement, abuse depression or illness.

Low-cost airline flies to Portugal

LOW-COST airline Ryanair has announced four new routes from London Stansted, including its first flights to Portugal.

The Dublin-based company is launching flights to Valencia, Almeria and Seville in Spain and Porto in Portugal with starting fares of £99, excluding taxes.

The flights, which will start between November 2 and February 25 next year, will bring the total number of routes offered by Ryanair from Stansted to 78.

Two of the new routes, Valencia and Almeria, will see Ryanair in direct competition with rival budget airline easyJet, which has already announced flights to those cities.

Inca Trail is protected

THE PERUVIAN government has introduced new measures designed to lessen the impact of tourism on the Inca Trail.

It is now imperative that visitors travel as part of an organised group led by professionally qualified and licensed guides.

A minimum booking period has also been introduced. Specialist operator Exodus has information on this and trips to Peru on its website at www.exodus.co.uk

Read all about Azores

SUNVIL Discovery has launched its first dedicated brochure to the Azores - the Portguese archipelago of nine islands in the Atlantic Ocean between Lisbon and New York.

The holidays coincide with the launch of the first direct scheduled flights from the UK which are due to start from Gatwick airport in the week beginning April 5, 2005. For a brochure call 020 8758 4747.

Walk away with it

WALKING holidays specialist HF Holidays has launched its most comprehensive walking holidays brochure yet.

The brochure includes guided, independent, trail and winter walking holidays at destinations at home and abroad. For more information visit www.hfholidays.co.uk

'Too popular', so cheap fares axed

A RAIL company revealed it has scrapped a range of cheap fares after they proved too popular with travellers.

Central Trains said its Cheap Day Return tickets on journeys longer than 50 miles was axed from September 26.

A spokesman for the firm said low prices had created such a high demand on certain services that passengers could not find seats.

He said five fares would be withdrawn and a further nine would face a 25% fare increase hike bringing them in line with average prices.

Pay a visit to Santa

FAMILY holiday specialist Esprit Holidays has launched a fully-inclusive programme of short breaks to Lapland.

Starting on December 1 the short breaks include all meals, husky dog sledding, sleigh rides and of course a visit to Santa Claus in his hideaway log-cabin.

For a copy of the brochure call 01252 618300.

Euro tax 'unfair' claim

UNFAIR tax rules are pricing Europe's tour operators out of their own market, a conference in London was told.

The European Tour Operators' Association claims EU VAT rules make it more expensive for them to 'sell' Europe to tourists than for operators outside the EU. They used a conference in London to call for VAT reform.

There's more to Explore

EXPLORE has added 16 new adventure holidays to its Family Adventures programme. Countries include Macedonia, Canada, Jordan and Botswana and a whole range of the holidays are now geared at energetic youngsters with activities including cycling, canoeing and kayaking on offer. For a brochure call 0870 3334001.