President
Obama announces a plan at Disney World to increase US tourism by simplifying visa
process for Chinese, Brazilin and Taiwanese visitors. This should greatly
increase the number of jobs and careers for tour guides, step on guides, tour
managers, travel staff and receptive services.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — With Cinderella Castle as a
backdrop and under a cloudless blue sky, President Barack Obama on Thursday
issued a message to the world: “America is open for business.”
Obama earlier in the day issued an executive order to ease
U.S. visa policies and expand the number of countries in the Visa Waiver
Program, with the goal of increasing inbound U.S. tourism.
“I want America to be the number one tourist destination in
the world,” Obama told the crowd at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
To do that, Obama said he has directed his administration to
increase by 40% the visa-processing capacity in China and Brazil, where
securing a visa to visit the U.S. can take up to a year.
He noted that Brazil and China have emerging middle classes
and citizens with growing disposable income, but that onerous U.S. visa
policies mean their citizens have difficulty getting to the U.S.
“People want to come here, and Brazil and China are two of
the countries with the biggest backlogs,” Obama said.
“That’s what today is all about: telling the world that
America is open for business.”
Obama said the new tourism strategy is part of his job-creation
plan.
“The more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get
back to work,” he said. “It’s that simple.”
Touching on the difficult balance between maintaining safe
borders and the interests of the tourism sector, Obama said, “There’s no reason
we can’t do both.”
Obama also said he is instructing his administration to
expand the Visa Waiver Program to more nations, such as Taiwan.
In addition, the Obama administration aims to expand Global
Entry, a program that allows expedited clearance at the airport for
pre-screened international travelers.
While it has been suggested in the media that Obama’s speech
was as much about his reelection campaign (Florida is projected to be a key
swing state) as it was about tourism, U.S. Travel Association CEO Roger Dow
commended Obama for being “the first sitting president to say that increasing
travel and tourism is important.”
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