So the big question before us is, what's this year going to be like for the Asian travel market given the Greek Tragedy, Arab Spring which is becoming a four-season affair, ongoing economic woes in the US and possibilities of bubbles in China and India (this comes up every year of course as it did for Dubai until it finally happened, and then life went on).

The picture seems mixed.

For Graeme Beardsell, chief customer development and marketing officer, Experian Asia Pacific, it's "proceed with caution" and he believes there will be a constriction of overall marketing budgets.

He sees a continuing shift from traditional to digital media and whatever funds that are going into the latter will be in social media and mobile. Think personalized and targeted, he says. (Full interview next week)

Patrick Imbardelli (right), president and CEO of Pan Pacific Hotels Group, would like to hear less of the phrase "cautiously optimistic".

"Not so much because things are looking up and we can afford to be more bullish. Just that it's a nice phrase that encapsulates the mood of the last three years but it's been bandied around so much it's ceased to be meaningful at all," he says.

"I think the political upheavals and economic turbulence of 2011 is a sign of the times. There are so many hotspots – Europe, the US, Russia, North Korea, Iraq, Pakistan.

"‘Uncertainty' is the new normal; we've become accustomed to disruptions in business in the last three years, but it still can be unsettling and leading a company through such uncertain times requires certain steel and resolve."

Robert Bailey, president and CEO of Abacus International, sees three challenges ahead for Asian travel.

Full story:

www.webintravel.com//news/forget-about-the-endings-live-in-the-present_2931