Only 12 months ago, leading executives from the world of corporate travel descended on San Diego to examine the challenges thrown up by the most brutal economic crisis since the great depression of the 1930s.
The outlook at the annual National Business Travel Association (NBTA) convention was bleak. Pessimism was rife. And though some sort of recovery was inevitable, the concensus was that the landscape of the business travel sector had changed forever.
Fast-forward a year to the NBTA convention in Houston and the mood has lightened considerably after three consecutive quarters of growth. Speak to almost any of the 6,000 delegates, and life does not seem to be so bad anymore. Load factors on aircraft are increasing, premium cabins are fuller, hotel occupancy levels are stronger and yields across the board are such that companies may actually return to profit.
Is everyone getting carried away? Not a chance, especially if you ask the industry's top brass. In a panel session of chief executives, four of the game's biggest players did admit to being optimistic, but cautiously so.
Frits Van Paasschen is the chief executive of Starwood Hotels, whose brands include Le Meridien, Westin, Sheraton and W Hotels. He said the leisure market had made up for weaker business travel trading in a number of markets, but that there was some reason to be cheerful.
"About a year ago we saw the leisure market start to come back, which compensated for the fall in business travel. Now, with more movement out there we are cautiously optimistic about the future," he said.
However, he added: "Even though the recovery has been sharper than anticipated and occupancy has been good, the economic outlook is still uncertain.
"There is still high unemployment in the US and the sovereign debt and euro crises have meant Europe has been the slowest to recover."
But while Europe and the US stagger out of the downturn Van Paasschen said the emerging markets - Latin America, Russia, India and China - had shown excellent growth. An experience shared by global travel management company Carlson Wagonlit Travel.
Douglas Anderson, CWT's Paris-based chief executive, said the industry had come a long way since the disastrous end to 2008.
"The second quarter of 2008 was tough and then the economy fell off a cliff in the last quarter of the year," he recalled.
"But we regrouped and we've started to see growth. In North America we have seen double-digit growth and more than 20% growth in Latin America."
Anderson, like his colleagues on the panel, bemoaned the fact Europe is taking the longest to show genuine signs of recovery - though it is getting there.
"The sovereign debt problem has caused companies to hold back and I think the banks still have some pain to endure. It's better looking forward now than it did last year. The strengthening euro will help get business back on track. It'll probably take a couple more quarters to work its way through."
Gordon Wilson, the Scots-born English-educated chief executive of Travelport, told the audience that bookings through the global distribution system (Travelport owns both Galileo and Worldspan) had been weakest in Europe, but he singled out Germany as the shining light in terms of the recovery.
He said the manufacturing-based economy and its exports to markets in India and Latin American had accelerated growth. But he was enthused by the US and emerging markets.
"This year we have seen average rates in the US up 15% in the first quarter and 23% in the second quarter," he said.
"Rates are back up in key cities. Corporate travel has grown sharply in Asia-Pacific, up 18%."
Also on the panel was the charismatic Texan boss of Southwest Airlines. Gary Kelly, a favourite with NBTA delegates, whooped up the crowd with his typical Texan drawl when he yelled: "Well, it's a hell of a lot better than a year ago."
He said: "Our figures mirror the US economy, so it's mostly a comeback of the consumer. Business travel accounts for about 35 - 40% of the traffic and we have seen a recovery but not an expansion.
"The strength is definitely coming from the consumer side. We are, however, hoping for short-term growth even in a sluggish economy."
By now, delegates will have returned to home safe in the knowledge that, for the time being, things seem to be going in the right direction. There is genuine reason for optimism.
However, in a world of wars, global warming, volatile volcanoes, oil spills and pandemic health crises, you'd have to be a brave pundit to predict what the economic lie of the land will be when they reconvene next year in Denver, Colorado.