US tourism gets presidential support

US president Barack Obama is pledging to do his part to promote tourism to the United States. Obama made the pledge in a videotaped address to some 6,000 International delegates attending Pow Wow 2012 in Los Angeles, California today. Obama said that he would promote travel to the US by “making it safer and simpler for people to visit,” telling his audience, “I want America to be the top tourist destination in the world. That’s why earlier this year we joined with business leaders to find better ways to market our tourist destinations and to make sure foreign visitors get the information they need.” At the same event, Brand USA chief Jim Evans announced that Canada, along with Britain and Japan, would be the target markets of its first promotional wave, which will debut at the beginning of May.