Tourism opportunity

The Obama Administration wants to become more flexible in the provision of tourism visas, in a way it insists will not compromise border security. Encouraging more international travelers to visit the United States could boost the Great Lakes region’s economy.

Although President Obama displayed the new initiative at Walt Disney World, its emphasis is not limited to theme parks such as Cedar Point. Emphasizing natural treasures as well as human-made amusements, from the Great Lakes to the Grand Canyon, can help create a greater sense of national and regional pride. In our region, an infusion of cash from foreign travelers could help clean up Lake Erie’s beaches and fix the lake’s worsening algae problem.

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The administration predicts Brazilians’ appetite for foreign travel will nearly quadruple by 2016. For China, it’s 135 percent; for India, it’s 50 percent. In an age of globalization, expanding middle classes in these developing countries have more money to spend.

Travelers from outside North America spend an average of $4,000 when they visit the United States, and more if they’re from Brazil or China, according to Obama Administration figures. That can generate billions of dollars in economic development and create jobs.

For the Great Lakes region to get it share, business, government, and environmental officials must seize the opportunity and develop what former Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams calls a “unified vision.” Mr. Williams directs a unit within the U.S. Department of Labor called the Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers.

The agency aims to help distressed communities such as Toledo diversify their economies. Although the office is not exclusively focused on tourism, it recognizes the role that activities such as birding, boating, and hiking can have in areas that have been afflicted by lost manufacturing jobs.

Tourism along Ohio’s Lake Erie coastline accounts for $10.7 billion a year in tourism revenue, nearly a third of the state’s total. What happens along the coast benefits the entire state.

Melinda Huntley, tourism program director for Ohio Sea Grant, says a national tourism strategy that helps promote the region’s natural treasures and other amenities “will certainly help Great Lakes states by providing leverage for our messages.” A unified vision and, more important, unified action will be needed to achieve maximum leverage.