From the outbox of Meyer’s inbox:
Yes, being the leader of the free world is full of stress and overwhelming responsibility but the job does have it’s perks like being able to hop on Air Force One and travel to the happiest place on earth. President Obama chose Disney World as a backdrop to announce plans to ease travel restrictions and speed-line the visa process for tourists. On some level it takes a lot of guts to go to Disney World in the middle of heated presidential election cycle. But let’s not miss the point. By some estimates, every 65 foreign visitors equals one new American job. If things go according to plan the tourist industry alone could add 1 million jobs within the next ten years. That’s totally worth a trip to Disney World.
OBAMA SEEKS TO BOLSTER JOB-CREATING FOREIGN TRAVEL TO U.S.
By Roger Runningen and Hans Nichols reporting for Bloomberg Businessweek
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama is ordering steps to increase the number and speed the approval of non- immigrant visas, particularly in China and Brazil, in an effort to create tourism jobs in the U.S.
Obama, who highlighted the initiative today in Orlando, Florida, also called for the Commerce and Interior Departments to make recommendations on promoting domestic and international travel in the U.S., including national parks and historic sites.
“More money spent by more tourists means more business and more jobs,” Obama said at the Walt Disney World theme park. The U.S. should be “the top tourist destination in the world.”
Travel and tourism represented about 2.7 percent of U.S. gross domestic product and supported 7.5 million jobs in 2010, according to a White House statement.
The order and the visit to Orlando are part of the administration’s run-up to the president’s State of the Union address on Jan. 24. The speech will focus on the economy and the steps Obama is taking that don’t require action by Congress. Republican lawmakers are intensifying resistance to his agenda as both parties seek the advantage for November elections that will decide the presidency and control of the House and Senate.
Presidential Prize
Florida is a major prize in the presidential election, with 29 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House and a recent history of swinging between the Democratic and Republican candidates. Obama won the state in 2008 while Republican George W. Bush won in 2000 and 2004.
Obama followed the stop in Orlando with four fundraisers tonight in Manhattan.
As part of today’s action, he ordered the Departments of State and Homeland Security to increase non-immigrant processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent this year and ensure that 80 percent of those applicants are interviewed within three weeks. The administration is also seeking to speed up clearance for pre-approved, “low-risk” travelers entering the U.S.
The administration projects the number of travelers from Brazil will increase 274 percent from 2010 to 2016 and the number from China will rise 15 percent. More than 1 million U.S. jobs can be created over the next 10 years if the country expands its share of the international travel market, according to the White House statement accompanying the order.
Tourism is a major component of Florida’s economy, which is still struggling to rebound from the recession. The president last visited Florida on Oct. 11 when his $447 billion American Jobs Act was being debated in the Senate.
Unemployment Drops
Since then, the state’s unemployment rate has improved, to 10 percent in November from 10.4 percent the previous month, according the Department of Labor. The national rate was 8.5 percent in December, down from 8.7 percent in November.
Still, Florida’s economic health declined 2.1 percent over the first three quarters of 2011, according to a Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States Index, which uses employment, real estate, taxes and local stocks to track the direction of state economies.
Read the rest of the article here.
