On January 19, 2012, President Obama issued executive order designed to increase tourism in the U.S. by expanding and accelerating visa-application processing by at least 40 percent for countries like Brazil and China and adding more countries to the Visa Waiver Program, which currently allows tourists from 36 nations to skip the visa process. The order also calls for the creation of Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness charged with creating a national strategy for increasing domestic and international travel to the U.S.
Click here to read the full Executive Order.