With all the travel-related content on YouTube, maybe it was inevitable. Lonely Planet has jumped on the Web 2.0 bandwagon with LonelyPlanet.tv, a collection of LP- produced and user-generated travel videos.

LP TV broadcasts six channels, with content ranging from practical travel advice (the Bluelist and Guerilla Guides channels) to travelogues (the Tripcast channel). The Tripcast videos – particularly the user-generated ones – can be tedious. But the guide videos are even more helpful than you’d expect, and much better produced. Still – as befitting the ascendance of citizen media – LP TV’s most-watched video is a user-generated one; featuring someone breaking open a piggy bank and a little girl with squeaky shoes. Go figure.

LP TV videos are also browsable by tags and using an interactive Google map (you’re in luck if you’re looking for Australia content). For aspiring videographers, though, LP TV’s best feature may its easy video-sharing capability. Registration is easy and free, so you could be broadcasting your own travel videos for friends and family (and, uh, the world) in no time.

Better still, to get LP TV off and rollling, Lonely Planet is hosting a travel video contest. The winner receives an Apple laptop, a Sony Camcorder, editing software, $5000 and a guaranteed commission for a second video. If you enter, good luck.