It is often said that ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ and above we have tried to summarise current trends in the factors driving tourism. Based on an analysis of over forty different series, grouped into eight ‘segments’, the chart clearly comes with a hefty health warning, with the ‘scoring’ of each factor being as much art as it is science.

• The mild winter weather has been swept aside by cold air, but transport operators say they are well prepared for any falls of snow

• Figures from IATA show that in 2011 passenger demand was 5.9% higher than in 2010, during the month of December demand was 5.4% up on the previous year – Europe was one of the best performing areas for air travel during 2011 with demand up 9.5% (9.8% in December)

• Figures from IATA show that domestic air travel increased at an annual rate of 10.9% in China during 2011, by 16.4% in India and 13.7% in Brazil

• Turkish Airlines will add an additional three weekly flights from Istanbul to Manchester during summer 2012

• From the start of May BA will resume flights from Tripoli to Heathrow, operating three times per week

• From the end of March Ryanair will operate flights from Budapest to Birmingham, Bristol and London Stansted

• Financial difficulties result in the Hungarian flag carrier Malev ceasing all operations – the airline had offered double-daily flights from Budapest to London Gatwick

• From end March China Airlines is to axe its twice weekly flights from Taipei to Heathrow

• A transport strike in Italy disrupts some flights to Britain on 27 January

• A general strike in Belgium disrupts transport links to Britain on 30 January

• According to Eurotunnel during the final three months of 2011 Eurostar trains carried 3% more people than during the same period of 2010, while 12% more cars and 3% more coaches were transported through the tunnel 

• IMF now forecast that the UK economy will grow by 0.6% in 2012

• The UK economy contracted by 0.2% in the final three months of 2011

• The National Institute of Economic and Social Research forecast that the UK economy will be in recession during the first half of 2012

• UK consumer confidence picked up in January but remains downbeat

• The Spanish economy shrank by 0.3% in the final three months of 2012

• France has cut its economic growth forecast for 2012 to just 0.5%

• In December Eurozone unemployment stood at a record 10.4%

• Eurozone consumer confidence picked up marginally during January but remains downbeat

• The US economy created 243,000 new jobs during January, resulting in the rate of unemployment falling to 8.3%

• US consumer confidence declined during January after having gained ground in each of the final two months of 2011

• IMF now forecast that the global economy will grow by 3.25% in 2012, down from its previous estimate of 4.0%, and says that the global economy is 'deeply into the danger zone'

• STR Global forecast that hotel revenue per available room is set to increase by 1.9% in London and by 0.6% in UK regions during 2012

• As of December 2011 STR Global figures suggest that there were more hotel rooms under construction in Britain than any other European country, with a tally of 11,687