Free Republic

Lawmakers move to expand visa waivers to boost foreign tourismBy Vicki Needham - 05/29/12 05:00 AM ET As the summer tourism season kicks into full gear, Congress and the Obama administration are making progress to expand and expedite visa programs as a path to boosting job creation and economic growth in the United States. Retail and travel-industry advocates, as well as lawmakers, are narrowing their legislative focus to adding new countries and greater security protections to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which allows tourists and business travelers from 36 countries to visit the United States for up to 90 days...

With a line-up that includes Drew Barrymore, David Beckham, Orlando Bloom, and Ricky Martin, the UN's choice of ambassadors has been known to cause raised eyebrows or the odd smirk. Seldom, however, has there been such anger, or questioning of the organisation's credibility, as that greeting the appointment of a new international envoy for tourism: Robert Mugabe. Improbable as it seems, the Zimbabwean president, who is widely accused of ethnic cleansing, rigging elections, terrorising opposition, controlling media and presiding over a collapsed economy, has been endorsed as a champion of efforts to boost global holidaymaking.

David Pepe, who runs the Ignorant Fishermen website, and who lives in Connecticut, has brought to our attention a new, multi-million-dollar tourism campaign aimed at boosting Connecticut’s tourism income. David has seen through the hype and giddy promotion to the heart of the tourism slogan that Connecticut is “Still Revolutionary.” This very expensive tourism project was spawned under the current Democrat Governor Dannel Malloy and was unveiled last week. As the Connecticut Mirror reported, “Three years after its tourism budget was reduced to $1, Connecticut is back with a two-year, $27 million marketing campaign to promote tourism and brand the...

Sex workers in Amsterdam will have a hard time finding work if two New Zealand academics' vision of the future comes true. "In 2050, Amsterdam's red light district will all be about android prostitutes who are clean of sexual transmitted infections, not smuggled in from Eastern Europe and forced into slavery, the city council will have direct control over android sex workers controlling prices, hours of operations and sexual services," write futurologist Ian Yeoman and sexologist Michelle Mars. The duo's paper, Robots, Men And Sex Tourism, published in the journal Futures, centres on an imaginary future sex club in Amsterdam...

MARCH 30, 2012 06:55 Tahrir Square in Cairo, a place where Egypt’s democratic revolution took place a year ago, has turn into a shelter for the homeless. A photo taken on the balcony of an eight-floor hotel in the square costs 20 U.S. dollars. The holy place is changing into a tourist venue.

A sneering teenager, nicknamed 'Savage', was today found guilty in the shooting deaths of two British tourists after days of damning evidence. Shawn Tyson, 17, was charged with two counts of first degree murder for killing James Cooper and James Kouzaris in April 2011 and was sentenced to life in prison.

...Imagine that you’re the citizen of a prosperous, democratic ally like Britain, Spain or Japan, and you’d like to visit America. Before traveling, you must pay $14 to complete an online United States government form called ESTA, short for Electronic System for Travel Authorization. ESTA asks for basic personal data, like your name and birth date. It also asks whether you are guilty of “moral turpitude,” whether you’re planning crimes or “immoral activities” and whether you suffer from “lymphogranuloma venereum” (don’t ask). If you’re involved in terrorism or genocide — and for some reason you’ve decided to take this opportunity...

We are commemorating one of the most famous ships in the world in the lead up to the 100th anniversary of the demise of the Titanic said Orla Saul. To bring this special and unique story to life we are delighted to have Susie Miller over from Ireland. Miller runs Titanic Tours in Belfast and is here today to tell us the most intriguing, poignant and personal story about Titanic. The 100th anniversary coincides with the opening of the Titanic visitor centre on 31st March in Belfast. Some people don’t know that the Titanic was built in Belfast said Ms....

Bedouin gunmen intercepted a tourist minivan and snatched two female American tourists and their Egyptian guide at gunpoint Friday near St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, the region's security chief said. The brazen daylight abduction along a busy highway was a new blow to Egypt's vital tourism industry, which has been heavily battered by the unrest following last year's uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak.

LAKE BUENA VISTA — With a symbol of this swing state's crucial tourism industry as his backdrop, President Obama today declared that "America is open for business" and announced plans to make it easier for foreign tourists to visit the U.S. and pump money into the American economy. Obama announced that his administration is taking steps to increase international tourism, including processing more visas from China and Brazil.

The mittens are off! Verbal fists are flying in what is becoming tourism marketing fight of this century! Two states — boundaries formed millennia ago by natural forces and almost two centuries ago by politics — look a lot like the human hand in a mitten. Because of that, Wisconsin and Michigan were locked in mostly media-created hand-to-hand combat for the better part of a month over which looks more like the body part. The origins are pretty simple. Over the past year, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism has been using a campaign that stages various objects to look like...

Puerto Rico has been picked by Forbes magazine as one of the world’s top Christmas destination, winning recognition for a marathon and spirited holiday season marked by good food and drink and warm weather. “Who says you need scarves and snow to have a truly authentic Christmas?” Forbes reports. “Multi-colored lights look fantastic strung through palm trees, the coquito tastes a little like eggnog that’s mostly coconut, and a roasted, seasoned pork shoulder often muscles out turkey for center stage at a Puerto Rican Christmas table. The well-known New York-based business publication worked with travel experts at Lonely Planet and...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A soldier and his wife stopped a robbery on Tuesday night when the soldier pulled a gun on the assailants and fired, police said. The husband and wife had just been transferred from Fort Hood to Colorado Springs. They were taking a walk in their new neighborhood at 10 p.m. when they were approached by two masked assailants, police said. When the assailants ordered the soldier and his wife to the ground, the soldier told police he pulled out his handgun. The soldier told police the men started to run off, but when one of them...

Athens. It is believed that the tomb of Alexander the Great and the Ark of the Covenant have been found on the Greek Island of Thasos, announced Russian Grekomania.ru, which is information partner of the Greek Minister of Culture and Tourism.

Equality: The Girl Scouts of Colorado says it's working to support transgender children, their families and the volunteers who serve them I had no idea! Silly me...when I grew up I thought there were distinctions between boys and girls; but this isn't that. It's about "inclusiveness" for fear of being stigmatized with the dirty-word labels, sexist/bigoted/racist/xenophobic/homophobic: The Girl Scouts of Colorado has flip-flopped on a decision not to let a 7-year-old boy join their organization, now saying he is welcome even though he’s not a girl. Bobby Montoya plays with Barbie dolls and My Little Ponies. He’s a boy, but...

Born In The U.S.A.: Birth Tourists Get Instant U.S. Citizenship For Their Newborns Oct 28, 2011 By Anna Schecter A curious global industry has emerged that caters to wealthy foreign women willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars to give birth in the United States and get instant U.S. citizenship for their babies. The hefty price is worth it, according to these women, because it paves the way for easy access to American public schools, universities and jobs as the children get older and green cards for the whole family once the child turns 21. The women stay at...

Journeys to the edge: Tourism in Fukushima makes more sense now One windy city surviving on the cusp of Japan's nuclear frontier is ready and waiting for visitors By James A. Foley 27 October, 2011 Iwaki City is a cluster of exurban hamlets about 200 kilometers north and east of Tokyo, on the coastal Hamadori region of Fukushima Prefecture. A few years ago I rang for a taxi from my apartment in Iwaki to the train station in the middle of town. I forget where I was going, but I do recall with great clarity the conversation I had with...

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- President Barack Obama has a Sin City problem that won't go away. Obama is counting on Nevada's support for reelection next year. He easily won the Las Vegas Valley in 2008 and will probably win the largely Democratic, urban center again next year.

Angela Merkel has appealed to German politicians to approve Europe's rescue efforts ahead of a crucial vote that could torpedo the Brussels summit. The German Chancellor, who on Tuesday must secure the Bundestag's approval before European bail-out plans can proceed, briefed politicians on plans to increase the firepower of the European Finance Stability Facility (EFSF) from €440bn (£383bn) to more than €1 trillion. She assured them that Germany would not have to stump up more cash because financial engineering would be used to boost the bail-out fund. Even so, European leaders face a tense wait before the Brussels summit resumes...

BEIJING - Even as some travel destinations struggle to attract tourists, flocks of Chinese are expected to go overseas during the National Day holiday, according to the country's top tourism think tank. The China Tourism Academy, a research institute, forecasts that 2.2 million Chinese tourists will travel overseas during the weeklong holiday that starts on Oct 1. The number of outbound tourists is expected to increase by a double-digit percentage above what it was in the same period this past year, the academy said. And travelers during the holiday are expected to spend $950 each on average, or $2.1 billion...