Welsh beach named among the best in the world

A beach in Wales has been a surprise entry onto a list of the best beaches in the world, compiled by a travel publication.



According to The Travel Magazine, Oxwich Bay, on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales, is the most beautiful beach in Britain and can claim to be on a par with Whitehaven Beach on Australia's Whitsunday Islands or Super Paradise Beach in Mykonos, Greece.

The magazine said that Oxwich Bay was special due to its Arcadian quality, with its 2.5 miles of pale sand, safe shallow seas, woodland surroundings, unspoilt scenery and nearby Penrice Castle.

Nic Havers, co-author of the article and deputy features editor of The Travel Magazine, said: "We went looking for beaches that had a refined quality. We wanted to include beaches not just with natural beauty, good sand and sea quality, but also eco-friendly beaches with a 'just-this-minute-discovered' feel."

Whitehaven Beach earned a nomination due to its 99.89 per cent pure quartz sand and the opportunity to swim with 1,500 types of multi-coloured fish, while Super Paradise Beach was praised for its hedonistic and funky lifestyle.

Other winners included "possibly the most beautiful beach in Africa", Guludo Beach on the Quirimbas Peninsula in Mozambique, where visitors can see the biggest crabs in the world in the Coral Rock Forest, and the Praia da Lopes Mendes beach in Brazil with its butterflies, pygmy monkeys, waterfalls and tropical flowers.

Demand up for sporting holidays

Sporting events are set to give a considerable boost to tourism in 2007, experts have claimed.

Travel firm directline-holidays.co.uk said that while beach holidays remained a traditional favourite with Britons, combining this with a visit to a sporting event was becoming increasingly popular.

This year is set to be the biggest yet for sports holidays, the company has predicted, with France, Italy, the USA, Spain and the Caribbean the destinations most likely to benefit from it.

France is the most likely to lure visitors with sports, the firm claimed, with the tennis French Open, the final stage of the Tour de France, the Rugby World Cup and the French Grand Prix all set to be big attractions for holidays to France.

Among the attractions for those on holiday in Italy will be the Tuscany Moto GP and F1 Grand Prix, while any USA holiday will be incomplete for sports fans without visiting the US Open tennis in the summer. Meanwhile Spain will offer the Americas Cup regatta and the Caribbean will have the ICC World Cup for cricket fans.

"We have always experienced demand for activity holidays like skiing and mountain biking holidays, but in recent years our call centre handles an increasing number of requests where the sport available is at least as important as the dining options or the quality of the beach," said the firm's director, Matthew Flint.

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