The tourism figures for the second quarter of 2011 may have been down overall, but the overall outlook is positive.That?s because overall arrivals were down almost entirely due to a drop in cruise ship arrivals in May when the Norwegian Dawn was out of service.The important numbers were up, namely overall air arrivals and length of stay by air visitors. It is also notable that hotel bednights rose while people staying in private homes declined. That means that more money was being spent, and that?s the critical factor for the economy.So there?s some reason for optimism, although care needs to be taken not to exaggerate the improvement, which is in comparison to the horrendous figures of 2010.Still, it?s something to build on and now is the time for the Tourism industry to start planning for improvements in 2012.