The demonstrations were peaceful, so the impact was only on incentive travel from Singapore and China. From Singapore we lost 5 000, and China 10 000, but now it's come back.

Political conflict has directly affected visitors' confidence.

When there was the tsunami last year, I thought that was the end of the tourism industry but we recovered very fast, in only six months.

This year again the target is 13,8 million visitors, and 79,3 million domestic trips, which together should generate about US$20-billion.

Last year we targeted 13,8 million but unfortunately, because of the tsunami, we were only able to attract 12 million.

When you're (traveling) with someone else, you share each discovery, but when you are alone, you have to carry each experience with you like a secret, something you have to write on your heart, because there's no other way to preserve it.