The travel industry is approaching 2012 with "cautious optimism", given the various unknowns within the British economy.
That's the opinion of the chief executive of onthebeach.com, Simon Cooper, who shared his thoughts on the upcoming year with Travelweekly.co.uk.
He explained that the fate of the industry is largely unknown at present, given that although there are predictions of a double-dip recession, Brits are still keen to get away from it all at least once in 2012.
"It's been an encouraging start to trading," Cooper confirmed. "But it's fair to say we are being cautiously optimistic for the remainder for 2012 - there are too many unknowns: the Euro, the recession, the football, the Olympics and, of course, the UK weather.
"But one thing is still clear: Brits still love to travel abroad," he added. Cooper's thoughts may mean that hotels, car hire companies and others trading in the travel sector need not panic just yet; instead, they should take advantage of the fact that there are potential holiday-makers out there.
The only area that might practice slight caution is aviation - if comments from Tony Tyler, the director general of the Air Transport Association (IATA), are anything to go by. Although he did admit on wsj.com that 2011 did have some highs for aviation, if the European financial crisis deepens, he said it could leave the industry "in the red".