Posted on 01/17/2012 11:27:52 AM PST by crosshairs
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will visit Walt Disney World during a planned trip to Orlando on Thursday, according to a White House aide. There, he will "unveil a strategy that will significantly help boost tourism and travel," the aide added. Details on that strategy were not disclosed. But it would be hard for Obama to pick a locale that's better known than Disney for a tourism announcement. The resort giant in Orlando has four theme parks that collectively draw more than 45 million visitors a year. It doesn't appear, however, that he'll get much love from local politicians. Aides to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said the Florida Democrat was unlikely to attend because the office "got word too late" of the visit and had meetings planned in other parts of the state. And Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is scheduled to be in Washington that day for a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. While the details of the announcement are still unknown, there's one topic at the top of the political wish list for Central Florida's tourism industry: Visa reform. The tourism industry has been pushing Congress and Obama to make it easier for visitors from emerging nations such as Brazil, India and China to come to the U.S. as tourists. In Brazil, where citizens have a reputation for loving Orlando's theme parks, there are four consulate offices to conduct the required in-person interviews for people who want a visa to visit the U.S. That means families could have to travel several hundred miles before they are even approved to travel to the U.S. But a recent Congressional appropriations bill gave the Secretary of State the authority to develop a pilot program to use videoconferencing to conduct remote visa interviews for leisure and business visitors.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
“Obama just ruined vacations for tens of thousands of people with his security detail and entourage.”
That was my first thought. Obama once again, thoughtlessly but deliberately, impinges on Americans. He just doesn’t seem to care about what his actions do to us. I would be furious if I had spent the money needed to schlep to Orlando with the family, paid exorbitant costs to stay there, and subsist for a few days’ getaway. Then this clown and his entourage swing in, close the park and have their way. Simply outrageous!
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