The website promoting tourism for the Isles of Scilly has had thousands of extra hits amid speculation Prince William and Kate Middleton could honeymoon there, reports the BBC.

Visits to the official tourism website have spiked heavily, with people trying to find out more about the islands.

One day last week, the Simply Scilly website received 78,000 hits - nearly three times its normal traffic.

Previous holiday
Downloads of the official holiday brochure have also doubled.

Interest has come from around the UK, mainland Europe and the United States.

Prince William, 28, spent a family holiday on Scilly in 1989 with Prince Charles, Princess Diana and his brother Prince Harry.

His wedding to 29-year-old Kate Middleton will take place on 29 April at Westminster Abbey, but Buckingham Palace has said it could not comment on the couple's honeymoon destination.

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Holidaymakers booking a trip through the internet face a £2.50 levy to pay for a protection scheme which would get them home if an airline collapses, reports the telegraph.

The Government is ready to extend holiday protection to an estimated six million people who make their own travel arrangements online.

This would be done by extending the Air Travel Organisers Licensing (ATOL) scheme, which provides protection against a tour operator failing, to websites which enable people who put together packages themselves.

It would protect anyone who books both a flight and one other holiday component, such as a hotel room or car rental, from a single specialist website.

The move, which will require fresh legislation, reflects the growing use of the internet by holidaymakers who use use websites as a "one stop shop" rather than buy a holiday from a tour operator.

Not only would the protection fund a scheme to get people home when they were stranded. it would also enable holidaymakers to get a full refund if any of the companies providing a component of their trip went bust.

"Since it was introduced, ATOL has provided protection for millions of holiday makers and I am determined to see this continue," said Theresa Villiers, the aviation minister.

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Travel group Tui says the unrest in Tunisia and Egypt could cost it up to £30m, reports the BBC.

It said it was monitoring the situation carefully and said customers were rebooking alternative holidays.

Tui said it had now cancelled all holidays to Egypt except those leaving from the UK.

The comments came as it announced a pre-tax loss for the end of 2010 of £134m - smaller than the £166m it lost during the same period a year earlier.

The company said that if it was not able to operate any more winter holidays to Egypt apart from the UK, the cost would be £20m.

If the UK government changes its advice, and warns against holiday travel to Red Sea resorts as other governments have done, the additional cost would be £5m, Tui said.

In addition, the cost of cancelling holidays to Tunisia and bringing travellers back from there would be £5m.

Overall, the company said it had been a good start to the year and bookings were good.

"We remain cautious, however, given the current economic and geopolitical uncertainty."

It said its losses had reduced between October and December - its first quarter - because of improved performances in the UK, the Nordic region and Canada which offset the disruption caused by the severe weather in December.

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Britain will send a charter plane to Cairo to bring back citizens who want to leave as protests against the Egyptian government escalate, Foreign Minister William Hague announced on Tuesday. This report from the Telegraph.

“We have been advising people in Cairo or Alexandria or Suez to leave if they can if they don’t have any pressing reason to remain,” Mr Hague told MPs.

“The vast majority of those wishing to do so have been able to do so on commercial flights. But I’ve also decided to send a charter aircraft to enable further British nationals to leave the country if they wish to do so.

“That will set off for Egypt tomorrow and I will send further flights if necessary just to make sure that people are able to leave if they wish to do so.”

It later emerged that a seat on the flight will cost passengers £300 each, approximately equal to the cost of a standard commercial single fare. The flight will not replace the provision of commercial flights.

The Foreign Office advice against all but essential travel to Cairo, Alexandria and Suez does not apply to the Red Sea resorts such as Sharm el Sheikh, which are deemed to be safe destinations.

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The Sri Lankan government says it hopes its hard-won peace will give a much-needed boost to the tourism sector in the Indian Ocean island nation, reports the BBC.

Sri Lanka expects a big influx of tourists in the next few years, after the three-decade long war against the Tamil Tigers ended with the defeat of the separatist rebels in May 2009.

Last month, Sri Lanka Tourism (SLT) celebrated the arrival of the country's 600,000th foreign tourist. The SLT expects 700,000 tourists in 2011 and arrivals are projected to hit 2.5 million a year by 2016.

"Peace is the biggest investment for the development of tourism in any country," says the country's Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa.

"There won't be tourists if there is no peace."

He adds, however, that the government is currently trying to minimise its direct intervention, apart from playing a facilitator role, allowing the industry to develop itself.

Sri Lanka boasts one of the best beaches in the world, wildlife sanctuaries, unique ecosystems and heritage sites from ancient cities to colonial forts, as well as a diverse climate within a small radius.

"The nature has blessed us with beautiful beaches, waterfalls, exotic wildlife and historic places. We as a nation have a reputation for our hospitality," says Mr Rajapaksa, the younger brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

India and UK are currently the biggest source markets for the Sri Lankan tourism industry. The UK comes a close second in terms of arrival numbers, but authorities say tourists from the UK stay longer and the yield is higher as a result.

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Britons arriving back from Cairo have spoken of their "frightening" experiences and relief to be home from the protest-hit Egyptian capital.

Travellers said streets were unsafe and chaos had descended on Cairo airport. Clearly travel advisers should not be sending tourists to Egypt at the moment.

The Foreign Office said no formal evacuation was under way but advised UK nationals in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez to leave if it was safe to do so.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron has called for an "orderly transition" to a democratic government in Egypt.

In a joint call with US President Barack Obama, Mr Cameron said a "comprehensive process of political reform" was needed in the north African country.

Later, in an interview with BBC Breakfast, he said Egypt must "go down the path of reform and not repression", and bring in greater rights, greater freedoms and a better rule of law.

Asked whether that meant President Hosni Mubarak should stand aside, Mr Cameron said it would be "bad" for the UK, America or others to try to pick new leaders.

"I think in the conversations we have with President Mubarak and others it is sensible to say 'You do have a choice here. This repression - if you opt for that, that will end badly for Egypt, badly for the world. It is the wrong choice.'"

In Egypt, UK nationals have been trying to leave the country, which has seen six days of violent demonstrations by protesters demanding an end to their president's 30-year rule.

David Lewis, from Manchester, had been visiting his niece but cut his holiday short. He said the situation had been "absolutely frightening" and he was "really lucky" to get a flight back home.

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The Telegraph has published a list of the world's top 50 hotels, with a short review on each. The Lugger, in Cornwall come up no. 1.

Here is their opinion on the Lugger Hotel

"The setting for this 17th-century inn could not be better. Sandwiched between the cliffs in the tiny fishing village of Portloe – the fiercely sloping landscape of which has spared it from development – this whitewashed hotel looks out across the harbour. But it is not just about the location – the 22 rooms are as bright and welcoming as the amiable staff, while the food (given its seafront position, fish features heavily) is superb. If you plan to push the boat out, opt to stay in the miniature cottage for something a bit special."

See the full article on the world's top 50 hotels.

Only Disney would christen a ship by emptying on to it a giant bottle of dreams collected by Captain Mickey. OK, it was air to you and me, but Disney is all about suspending belief, accepting the magic. If you can’t do that, Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Dream, named last week in Port Canaveral, is not the ship for you.

It’s the first ship Disney has launched for more than a decade, and 50 per cent bigger than its other two vessels, so there has been room to expand the areas for children, for teenagers and for “adults only”.

The prices don’t encourage lingering: a bottle of Taittinger bubbly, named Pink after the champagne bar in the adult-only area, The District, costs $91 (£59). Champagne cocktails cost $10.50 (£6.75).

Several prices on the ship made me wince. The $75 (£48.15) per person charge to dine in Remy, the new fine-dining restaurant, is one thing; opt for one of the tasting menus served there and the wine will set you back another $99 (£64) per person. I couldn’t eat in Remy – despite the price it’s booked up for months – but I did sample a couple of dishes, including the smoked bison, and it was tasty and beautifully served.

Service was not so good in the dining room, where wine didn’t arrive until after the starter and waitresses seemed unable to depart from their script. I told mine I was ready to order, but she still recited the recommendations, saying that she “had to”.

Disney Dream is sailing three, four and five-night cruises from Port Canaveral, visiting Nassau in the Bahamas and Castaway Cay, the corporation’s private island in the Caribbean (private being relative given that you share it with up to 4,000 people).

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Spain's tourist industry rebounded last year from the economic crisis that has battered the key sector, with the number of foreign visitors edging up by one per cent, the government has said. This report comes from the Telegraph.

Although down by 6.5 per cent to 12.5 million, Britons represented the largest tourist group making up 23.6 per cent of the total, followed by Germany and France.

Spain recorded 52.6 million international arrivals in 2010, up from 52.5 million in 2009, the tourism ministry said in a statement.

It was the first increase since 2007 and follows a decline of 8.7 per cent in 2009 and of 2.3 per cent in 2008, when the country plunged into recession amid the collapse of its once-booming property market and the global financial meltdown.

However, the Spanish figures compare to a global increase of 6.7 per cent last year, according to data released last week by the UN World Tourism Organisation. Even in Western Europe, the number of international tourist arrivals was up 5.0 percent last year, the UNWTO said.

Spain's tourism ministry noted a number of external factors had hurt the industry in 2010, including the ash cloud from the volcanic eruption in Iceland in April, a strike by air traffic controllers in Spain and bad weather in Europe and the United States in December.

"The tourism sector has shown its strength in the context of the crisis that we have experienced," the statement said.

"The forecasts for 2010 showed a fall in tourism, but the sector has beaten the predictions of just six months ago and ended the year with positive figures, and tourist arrivals recorded the first increase since 2007."

In 2009, Spain lost its ranking as the world's second most visited country to the United States, with France number one. The UNWTO has yet to release its country rankings for 2010.

Spain emerged from recession with tepid growth of just 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 and 0.2 per cent in the second but then stalled again with zero per cent growth in the third.

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Campaigners are calling on the Scottish government to do more to protect the country's areas of wild land. The wild areas are a tourist attraction, but also very valuable for maintaining the rich wildlife heritage of the Scottish countryside.

A 3,500-signature petition is being given to MSPs, amid warnings that some of the best landscapes are at risk.

The John Muir Trust has said areas of wild land are under greater threat than ever before.

The Scottish government said a review of the situation was under way and that all organisations with an interest in conservation would be consulted.

The trust is particularly concerned about the potential impact of "badly sited, industrial scale wind farm development proposals".

It wants a new national environmental designation for wild land.

"Wild land" is classed as large areas with spectacular scenery, high wildlife value and very little evidence of human activity. It would typically include mountains, blanket bog, river margins and coastlines.

The trust has said that half of Scotland's best wild land has no environmental protection at all.

Stuart Brooks, chief executive of the John Muir Trust, said: "Our vision is that wild land is protected and wild places are valued by all sectors of society.

"This petition is the first step in making the case for a new designation to protect Scotland's wild land areas."

He added: "Wild land has a wide variety of benefits. It is home to some of our most iconic wildlife and provides us with things vital to our everyday lives like fresh water and clean air.

"92% of visitors to Scotland cite the fantastic scenery we have as the main reason for coming here."

'Sustenance of redemption'

The campaign is being supported by the writer and broadcaster, Cameron McNeish.

He said: "For over 40 years the wild places of Scotland have provided me, and countless others, with the sustenance of redemption.

"It's the wild hills and glens that I turn to when I need to flush from my mind the problems, anxieties and stresses of 21st Century living."

A Scottish government spokesman told BBC Scotland: "Scottish Natural Heritage does not advocate a specific wild land designation and is currently preparing a new assessment of wildness across Scotland.

"A review of natural heritage designations is ongoing and will consider how best to integrate our approach to managing nature, landscape and recreational designations.

"This will ensure they are fit for purpose and can best deliver our objectives."

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