With Central Florida's characteristic highway mirages distorting Cinderella Castle behind him, President Obama outlined his plans for boosting U.S. travel and tourism in Lake Buena Vista on Thursday.
While Governor Scott was attending a portrait unveiling at the Governors Club in Tallahassee, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Commerce Secretary John Bryson were in attendance to hear the president express his relief at meeting a world leader, Mickey Mouse, with larger ears than him and tout the United States' position as one of the world's top tourist destinations, second only to France.
"Every year, tens of millions of tourists all over the world come to visit America," the president said. "As folks in Orlando know, that's good for our economy. It means people are renting cars and they're staying in hotels and they're eating at restaurants and they're checking out the sights. It means people are doing business here in the United States."
According to the president, "nearly 60 million international visitors helped the tourism industry generate over $134 billion" in 2010, making tourism "the number one service that we export...and that means jobs."
In an initiative to further improve the American tourism industry and attract even more visitors to the country to boost the economy, Pres. Obama announced his strategy to not only continue marketing the nation's tourist destinations abroad but also to make it easier for travelers to make the visit.
Among his proposals is the expansion of Global Entry, "a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the United States." The program allows frequent visitors who have submitted to an extensive background check to avoid long waits and be expedited through Customs once they arrive.
"It's a great example of how we're using new technology to maintain national security and boost tourism at the same time. And we're now going to make it available to almost all international travelers coming to the United States," said Pres. Obama. "If they're willing to submit themselves to the background checks necessary, we can make sure that we're facilitating their easy travel into the United States."
The president also proposed allowing more visitors to come to the U.S. without a travel visa, citing the thirty-six countries whose citizens are not required to have a visa and the fact that over 60 percent of visitors to the U.S. already don't require one.
Finally, he announced his directive for the State Department to accelerate the processing of travel visas by 40 percent in China and India this year.
These efforts, he said, are "what this is all about: telling the world that America is open for business; making it as safe and as simple as possible to visit; helping our businesses all across the country grow and create jobs; helping those businesses compete and win."
Pres. Obama's speech in the most visited city in the country comes just less than two weeks before the Republican presidential primary election in Florida, in which Mitt Romney is currently leading in the polls.
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