Horseshoe Bay will be highlighted as one of the world's top ten beaches on The Travel Channel tonight.

The "World's Best Beaches 2005" programme will air as part of The Travel Channel's annual "Beach Week" tonight at 10 p.m. on cable channel 44.

Horseshoe Bay was named the "Best Postcard Beach" for 2005 ? an honour welcomed by Tourism Minister Ewart Brown.

"As you can imagine, we are very excited about this latest news," he said in a Press statement yesterday."

The show will be seen in more than a million homes in the US and another several million world-wide. "Hopefully it will entice (potential visitors) to come see the real thing for their next vacation."

Other beaches featured in the programme include: Mykonos, Greece ("Best Party Beach); Oahu, Hawaii ("Best Surfing Beach"); Tulum, Mexico ("Best Ancient Beach"), and Barcelona, Spain ("Best Urban Beach").

The Department of Tourism, with the assistance of its North American public relations firm Lou Hammond & Associates, arranged for The Travel Channel to visit the Island last October to tape the segment.

The film crew apparently went to lengths to ensure that a spectrum of Bermudian experiences could be shown during the segment. They also visited the Tio Pepe restaurant in Southampton (near Horseshoe Bay) to learn how to mix Bermuda's national drink, the Dark 'n' Stormy; dropped into the newly amalgamated Trimingham's/Smith's to learn all about Bermuda shorts, and visited Dolphin Quest at Dockyard.

The Department of Tourism said yesterday that producers could not comment on what made the final cut, however residents are encouraged to tune into the programme.

The Reefs in Southampton has been named as the highest ranking hotel in the Caribbean and Bermuda region for value in the more than $400 a night category by Travel + Leisure magazine in "Affordable Guide" readers' poll.

The Reefs received a score of 78.57, narrowly edging out the Grand Lido Braco Resort and Spa in Jamaica for the top spot. The Reefs, with a nightly rate of $474, also had the lowest room rate of the top five hotels in the category.