Obama says 2009 is going to be tough and a year not to raise expectations. This means a lot, not only for Americans but for the whole world.

This does not, however mean that we have to chicken out and stop doing what we are supposed to do. If you see occupancy forecasts not promising, go out there and look for customers. Knock the doors of the Tour Operators, open your website availability, upload dynamic packages and show customers the real value in your product.

Don’t shrink your marketing budget or cancel that trip to ITB. Your “Maldivian Night at ITB” was a success once. So why do you have to cancel it this year? Have it, and have it with a bang! That’s the way it should be. Look at that forecast report from last year and book your flight to the place where numbers were high. You can’t just sit and expect the same numbers if you are not doing the same thing/s you did last year. If you want juice reach out and squeeze it – I bet you will get some.

Earlier on I have said Success in 2009 means Proactive Selling. Well, here is one more thing. Success in 2009 means more marketing – not the other way around. The biggest mistake we do in business is when the going gets tough we stop doing what we are supposed to do. We start thinking of costs, money or budgets. But on the way we tend to forget something very important – Profit!

To colse with, here is an extract from a book I read – “Cost Control Will Keep You Whole, but for Profits to Soar, It’s Big Sales You Must Score”.