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Subscribe to RSSPresident Obama speaks to a crowd gathered at Disney World to announce that he has called on his administration to prepare a plan that would grow US tourism and create jobs within that industry.
President Barack Obama announced plans Thursday to ease visa requirements for tourists from certain countries, a move applauded as long overdue by travel experts.
“Hallelujah,” said Jay Caulk, general manager of The Travel Experts in Pompano Beach, Fla. “Tourism dollars represent a major chunk in the gross national product in the country we live in. It’s most necessary to keep that income coming in. I applaud him for doing this.”
His company works with a lot of travelers who don’t live in the United States, and the easier you make it for people to get here, the easier it is for those people to drop their cash in this country, Caulk said. And that cash supports many vital industries and jobs.
“Tourism is a wide-reaching octopus — it means hotels, bus companies, food, bars, local attractions,” he said. “The list just goes on and on and on.”
The president’s plan to boost tourism by making it easier for tourists — especially from China and Brazil — to visit, also includes promoting travel to national parks and adding business executives to a tourism advisory board. That occurs against a backdrop of sour economic conditions that has led many states, such as Washington and Colorado, to close their tourism offices to save money.
“Every year, tens of millions of tourists from all over the world come and visit America,” Obama said in his speech about the plan, later released by the White House. “And the more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get back to work. We need to help businesses all across the country grow and create jobs; compete and win. That’s how we’re going to rebuild an economy where hard work pays off, where responsibility is rewarded, and where anyone can make it if they try.”
The president unveiled his plans at Disney World in Orlando, with the Magic Kingdom as his backdrop.
The U.S. tourism and travel industry is a substantial component of U.S. GDP and employment, representing 2.7 percent of GDP and 7.5 million jobs in 2010 — with international travel to the United States supporting 1.2 million jobs alone, according to the White House. The travel and tourism industry projects that more than 1 million American jobs could be created over the next decade if the U.S. increased its share of the international travel market.
Right now, it’s often a real pain for tourists from the heavily populated countries of China and Brazil to visit the United States, according to Doug Shifflet, chairman and CEO of D.K. Shifflet & Associates, a company that conducts major research into the travel industry.
“If it’s not a visa waiver country ... that has been previously set up, [a tourist] has to go for a personal interview,” Shifflet said. “Then you have to go back again. And if you don’t live near a major embassy for the country you want to visit, it becomes quite difficult.”
That can mean it takes months for someone in Brazil to come to the United States for a visit, so many potential tourists simply won’t make the effort. That also means other countries are picking up tourists who might otherwise be visiting here, spending their hard cash, he said.
“When you look at alternative places, the French, the British, make it so easy to get visas,” Shifflet said.
There is a lot of money at stake. The number of travelers from emerging economies with growing middle classes — such as China, Brazil and India — is projected to grow by 135 percent, 274 percent, and 50 percent respectively by 2016 when compared to 2010. Nationals from these three countries already contributed approximately $15 billion dollars and thousands of jobs to the U.S. economy in 2010, the White House said.
Chinese and Brazilian tourists currently spend more than $6,000 and $5,000 apiece per trip, according to the Department of Commerce.
Research by Shifflet's company indicates there is pent up demand for tourism visits to the United States by foreign travelers frustrated by visa requirements, Shifflet said. “There are large numbers of additional people who haven’t been coming here but would like to come here,” he said. “Let’s walk them in and take their money.”
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Too bad he didn't realize travel is a business that produces jobs sooner like before he trashed Las Vegas and took all his vacations. He is forcing government agencies to hire unneeded workers to boost employment numbers and protect his goons after the election.
"If you look over there, this is where we use to have our manufacturing plants with lots of good paying jobs. And over here is where the best and brightest came up with great inventions. And over there, is where we use to have our dignity."
...sure because we are all in agreement that international tourism will create new jobs ... what a batch of bullsh-t. Shmucks.
Of course it will. America just has very little to see. Go to someplace like Rome or Venice where nearly every structure has some kind of history and you will notice there are thousands of tourists there. International tourism generates money, people buy stuff from our businesses while they are here.
It is very simple to understand how it can add to economic growth, some countries even rely on tourism for their economies. That said it is not going to be that much of a gain for us, because I stated there is only about 14 to 20 places in this country that I think people would want to see.
Some of the bigger ones:
Las Vegas
Grand Canyon
Yellowstone
DC
New York (Times Square/GCP/'Freedom' tower once it is finished)
We need more tourist hotspots and that generally means setting up national parks or building interesting things, and preserving historic buildings. Obviously we do not have the history for a full fledged tourist industry but that doesn't mean we cannot drive what we can.
Any an all options have to be considered in order to help build up a stable base for the economy. cutting the Government is not going to do it on it's own.
Industry experts agree this was a good move. Another policy victory for Obama!
Kinda like George W Bush and his campaign to encourage Americans to travel after 9/11.
And Bushs' "go shop" to stimulate the economy. Of course, that made some sense.
He's still a NO vote from me!
It's bad enough they turned Washington DC into some Carnival Cruise clown shop. I had to pay for parking to go to Arlington(and I'm a veteran). The people of THIS country should be able to visit the sites of DC without feeling like a foreign tourist.
Forget you Mr. President,
You screwed Nevada/Las Vegas three years ago, now you are a tourism advocate.
When you come here next week, keep your mouth shut, get your money from the corporate types and never come back.
Jerk off one term president.
You sound bitter, doug. What's you stance on Harry Reid?
Jerk off Senate Majority leader until the election. Then minority leader.
What is it that this president did to ruin Las Vegas? Pretty sure Las Vegas and the banks stupid enough, to lend to the people stupid enough, to buy high price real estate during the height of the real estate bubble...
The bi-partisan bill for this had already been introduced on October, 2011 so that was just to make a speech in Florida
I'm not really happy the way the author of this article worded his statements. It makes it seem that we (The American People) only want tourists in America for their money. That is not the case! While tourism may be profitable, there are many other reasons to visit another country. I've been to Japan, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Korea, Cambodia and I have learned SO much during each stay from the country, their culture, their way of life that I am no longer the same person I was 3 years ago.
You bring those views back home with you and you share them with your friends. You grow as a person and you grow as a human being.
My 76 year old neighbor in Japan use to scale down my 6 ft. stone wall to tell me to "take care of my garden"...at-least one a week, if I was out on deployment he would tend to my garden for me.
I don't need to point out the lessons learned!
Dear President Obama if you want to help then the 1st thing to do is get rid of the TSA.....
Amen. Any branch of government that's not aloud transparency while trampling our rights needs to be dissolved! I mean if they're government employees, than why are we not aloud to take pictures or video of their processes...
Before boasting such speeches he should reorganize and reorient the behavior and the attitude of the US Immigration Service officers towards honest and paying 'alien'.
This alone would increase visiting the USA by the millions.
Guess we might as well promote tourism in the USA, since most of our manufacturing has moved offshore with energy production soon to follow.
you republicans love to bitch about anything good obama does-you might as well suck it up and look forward to 4 more years of obama rule. obama/biden 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At least you admit were being ruled.
They could put up Joe the Plumber or Frank the Dog Catcher against Obummer and I would vote for the non-incumbent. We can't afford this President.
And you're telling me that Romney, Gingrich, or Santorum are any better? We won't get a real candidate that's here to help us until we ABOLISH POLITICAL PARTIES! Every presidential election I can remember has had at least 1 major independent in the race by now. No one in sight, so I guess we're stuck with the usual decision between a giant douche and a turd sandwich..
There is the "Incapable one" in Fantasy Land again. Why doesn't he make it easier for companies to bring American jobs back to the USA. Instead he wants to help rich aliens. Not the ET type either. Then again, I don't know. It was Fantasy Land wasn't it?
I thought the Feds already had a pro-tourism program. It's called DON'T SEAL THE SOUTHERN BORDER!
I'm fine with that as soon as the 14th amendment is changed to remove birthright citizenship. How easy would it be for al-Quada or any other militant group, Iran, etc. to send thier wife/s here to have a baby, then take them home and raise them as radical extremists, then send them to the U.S. because they have American citizenship.
Don't think its possible? Its a booming business.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/us/29babies.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Hey I'll trade you the 14th for the 2nd. What do you say? We can get rid of two problems at the same time?
Just kidding, the right wing nuts love to just support thier parts of our constitution. (okay now I'm open to the those same nuts who say we're taking away thier gun rights just because they have to do something silly like register ... sigh)
You do realize that the 14th amendment was ratified in 1868 three years after the end of the civil war and the point of section one was to make sure that the newly freed slaves were treated and recognized as citizens of the United States.
The point was not for illegal immigrants and tourists to simply be able come to the U.S. and pop out a baby and be instant citizens.
Section one of the 14th amendment is now abused by illegal immigrants and anyone who simply wants to come to the United States and pop out a baby to have an American citizen in there family and be able to use that later.
It is now a security issue that endangers the United States. Of the last three terror attempts in the United States they were all U.S. citizens either through Naturalization or because they had duel citizenship. The ability for someone to get a 'Tourist Visa" and come here and pop out a baby and take them back home and raise them as an extremist, fill them with anti American hate and venom, and be able to send them back to the U.S. sometime in the future as a "Citizen" is just another security risk for the U.S..
No one part of the constitution is any more or less then the other. The same arguments can be used to debate the interpetation of or the reason behind the 2nd amendment.
The meaning of the phrase "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." has been argued by both sides. I am not making a call one way or the other but to me it's the same as debating the validity of the 14th. Yes so the 14th may have been a result of the slaves but perhaps the 2nd was included so that we could defend our country in a time before we had police and a military not for every day personal defense. It's original intent was also based on what was happening at the time.
I don't think it's a top priority, but it's a good idea. My Brazilian friends have to travel to Sao Paolo every five years to interview for a visa renewal. When we last went to Brazil (two years ago) it cost us $500 a piece to get a visa. We were told the steep fees were in response to the equivalent fees the US charges Brazilians. Of course it's not the pressing issue of the day, but since the South Americans are now the ones with the great economy and all the money, at least let them come here to spend it.
What great economies. Don't believe the progressives. We will bury all those other economies once we get rid of the idiot.
$500 for a visa!? The fee is $140!
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Lure-of-Citizenship-Spawns-Birth-Tourism-in-NYC-121223264.html
http://usanybaby.com/
We will take their citizenship away retroactively. These babies do not meet Constitutional criteria and they and the families will be deported. We will see to it.
Wow, what happened in egas a couple of years ago means absolutely nothing. Way to go libs, it's always an RIGHT WING issue. Get a clue!!!!
Maybe if they weren't giving millions of taxpayers dollars to foreign countries they wouldn't have to be spending millions of dollars more of taxpayers money trying to get it back.
When Obama is in Vegas they can ask him wheres the factory?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40565987/ns/business-going_green/t/wind-their-backs-powerful-democrats-help-chinese-energy-firm-chase-stimulus-money/#.TxjXsYHkedk
To expand on this further how can anyone possibly believe Obama or Dingy Harry gives a crap about creating jobs in America for Americans? Reid and the Democrats fought to spend $450 million dollars of our money so a Chinese firm could build the equipment and manage the farm and it turns out in the process its hurting our own companies that make wind power generators here in the U.S.
Ask yourself why our government is giving a Chinese firm $450 million dollars of our money to build the wind mills and now there talking about raising tariffs on the very same equipment our money is going to buy because its hurting U.S. companies.
Does the Wind Tower Trade association want the anti-dumping duties because of the Chinese governments subsides or the U.s. governments subsidies of the Chines firms?
Is that F'd up or what?
http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2012/01/19/us-to-probe-imports-wind-towers-from-china-vietnam/?test=latestnews
Obama shut down Disneyland to give a silly speech. I am sure the Florida voters realized he is full of hot air, and the Disneyland owners and operators and workers,, enjoyed the Park being shut down, especially the people who had already booked vacations to Disneyland to have fun there, appreciated Obama shutting it down.
Obama, the Socialist, is a DISGRACE. He Cannot Run on His Record. The last speech he gave was to ask to raise the Nat. Debt Ceiling $1 .2 Trillion --- folks - this Socialist is destroying the American Future with his constant spending and WAR on Private Industry -- see the Keystone Pipeline Project which he shut down . Not enough time to do the Environmental review ????? It's been under consideration for over 3 years,, the EPA in action ,, what a joke !
20,000 direct jobs,, and over 100,000 related jobs to support the Keystone Project,, because Obama doesn't think we have studied it enough ? It already got the Green Light of approval from the State Dept. Then Obama buys off the Unions who are upset by promising them key jobs on the NLRB,,, which is corrupt already.
America has ZERO future until Obama and the Democrats are gone. Do you feel better about America today after 3 years of Obama ? Have you ever seen the country this divided ? Have you seen a plan from Obama to address growing the economy ? The Affordable Jobs ACt which is nothing more than MORE UNION PUBLIC SECTOR jobs,,, is just a repeat of The Stimulus,, unpaid for and unproductive.
Only a total idiot could support Obama !
I live in a heavily traveled tourist area. When I was in my teens and early twentys I got a job every summer in the area, working on summer homes and businesses. Many people traveled miles for the welcomed work in hotels, cleaning,repair,desk work,restraunts,etc. Today it is all done by the cheapest foreign group they can hire for that season. One year it was all Russian, the next they were all from India.The youth today can't get a job in this town because the companys don't have to pay social security, or unemployment on them, and they get tax breaks for hiring them. The largest company in town now owns most of the hotels, tour boats and restraunts, they are registered as a business in the Caymans so they avoid taxes too. I always thought there were jobs that couldn't be shipped overseas, but I guess you just bring the labor force here.
It took "experts" (if in fact such people exist) to tell him that. How sophomoric is this guy? No wonder the speech came out of Disney Land.
It didn't take experts to see the problem. Just common sense.
I'm so tired of people complaining about ways to get the economy booming. It was W. Bush and his homeland security cronies that decided that visas should be rare and difficult to obtain.
I guess Bush got that advice from "the experts". Not surprised.
Uh....last time I was at Disney about half the workers were from outside of the US. Any word on cutting of the those work Visas to force Disney to hire more US citizens and pay them a decent wage?