As part of National Travel and Tourism Week, the Obama administration on Thursday announced plans to boost tourism in America by attracting almost twice as many foreign visitors over the next decade.

“Tens of millions of tourists from all over the world come and visit America every year,” President Obama said in a statement. “They stay in our hotels, they eat at our restaurants, they visit our attractions, and they help create jobs. At a time when too many Americans are still looking for work, we need to make it easier for more people to visit this country and keep our economy growing.”

Commerce Secretary John E. Bryson and Interior Secretary Kenneth L. Salazar outlined for reporters the White House’s new National Tourism and Travel Strategy, calling the plan a “blueprint” for expanding travel to and within the United States.

Under the plan, foreign visitors would gain easier access to the country with improvements to visa processing, expansions of the Visa Waiver Program and expansion of trusted traveler programs.

The goal is to attract 100 million international visitors annually who would spend an estimated $250 billion each year by the end of 2021. This could help the industry add an estimated 2.1 million to 3.3 million jobs.

That’s a dramatic increase from the 62 million foreign travelers who spent a record $153 billion last year.

“We want the world to know that there has never been a better time to visit the U.S.,” Mr. Bryson said. “America is truly open for business.”

Tourism remains one of America’s most important services industries, he said, accounting for 25 percent of total service exports.

“At the same time, we will also encourage Americans to travel more within the U.S. to see all our country has to offer,” Mr. Bryson said.

The initiative comes as the United States has been losing ground in recent years in the international tourism market. America’s market share of worldwide tourist spending fell to 11 percent in 2010, down from 17 percent in 2000 - more than a 30 percent decline.

Many tourists were afraid to travel to and within the United States after 9/11. And many others who weren’t afraid to travel were annoyed by the heightened security that made it difficult to get into the country. That contributed to a $13.3 billion decline in travel and tourism in 2001 over the previous year, according to the Commerce Department.

That Great Recession didn’t help, either. In 2009, travel and tourism declined by 15 percent, by $21.1 billion, from the previous year according to the Commerce Department.

But 2011 was a bit of a comeback year for America. The United States generated $1.2 trillion in total tourism, including both international and domestic travelers, which was up 3.5 percent from the previous year, a number that outpaced the 1.7 percent growth rate of the overall U.S.economy and supported 7.6 million jobs.

Mr. Salazar believes the country can build momentum by promoting American landmarks like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park.

“Tourism has the promise of being a great economic driver for the United States,” he said. “Our destinations are known throughout the world.”

In the Florida Keys, things happen a bit differently than they do in the rest of the world and that includes music festivals. Surrounded by the sea, the 120-mile island chain has staged one of its signature musical events underwater since 1985. The 27th annual Underwater Music Festival is set for 9 July 2011 at Looe Key Reef, an area of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary located approximately six miles south of Big Pine Key.
Each year, the subsea songfest draws as many as 600 divers and snorkelers to explore the colourful diversity of marine life that characterises the continental United States’ only living coral barrier reef. The marine musical event is staged by Keys radio station WWUS 104.1 FM, locally called US 1, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Music is broadcast und...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has a well-deserved reputation as host of the biggest carnival celebration in the world. Nowhere else on Earth is this gloriously wanton Christian holiday of feasting before fasting quite as grand in scale. In fact, all over Brazil, wild and massive celebrations compete for the carnival spotlight. This makes it easy to forget that carnival is celebrated with the same passion and gusto in many other parts of the world as well!
Here is the selection of five great places for a carnival carouse outside of Brazil.
MALTA AND GOZO
Costumes are key in the carnival celebration on the Maltese island of Gozo. Some take the disguise aspect so seriously that they will conceal their identities completely by remaining silent.
The central Mediterranean islan...

The 2011 Seychelles "Carnival International de Victoria," due to be held in Seychelles between March 4-6, 2011, is acting as a magnet for African countries who recognize the many opportunities that the Carnival offers and who are eager to jump on the bandwagon and get involved.
Seychelles’ historical status as the "melting pot of cultures" has, over its two centuries of settlement, produced a harmonious, multi-ethnic society that has created of its very variety and diversity a strength which is now the bedrock of a vibrant, yet tranquil, Seychellois Creole way of life.
It is this very sense of harmony, stability, and unity that is captured in the spirit of the 2011 Seychelles "Carnival International de Victoria," which sets the stage for international participation over three...

Myanmar has long been considered as a pariah state due to its harsh military government and its poor record on human rights. For years, most countries called to boycott Myanmar, and this was reflected by tourism figures. While other ASEAN countries prospered and enjoyed healthy growth in tourist arrivals, Myanmar continued to stagnate. Total arrivals reached over 792,000 in 2010, up from 657,000 in 2004 – when including cross-border tourism - representing a growth of 20.5% over this period. When looking at foreign arrivals at international airports, they grew from 2004 to 2010 from 242,000 to 311,000, a plus of 28.5%. Some would probably say that Myanmar did not do that bad. During the same period of time, arrivals to neighboring Laos more than doubled from less than 900,000 to an estima...

This year has been a bumper one for archaeology in Turkey with a number of new sites and finds unearthed. Highlights include newly discovered lost cities and significant artifacts from ongoing excavations.
The discovery of the lost city of Germenicia in Kahramanmaras with its many houses decorated with mosaics such as found in Ephesus and Zeugma.
The antique Roman city of Julianopolis close to Ankara during whose unearthing the ancient city of Parnassos was also discovered.
In Istanbul and its surrounds, findings include ceramics of the Roman and Byzantine period and a Roman tombstone at the ancient city of Bathoneia situated at the edge of Lake Kucukcekmece, Istanbul. A 60-metre section of a Roman road and a tunnel have been found in Kocaeli. A temple with statues of Ap...

Rushing around is standard airport behavior, but surprising collections of art at U.S. airports offer a moment for reflection - for those who have the time.
Here are five airports where you can catch some art on the way to catching your flight.
1. Denver International Airport
Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado, was one of the first airports in the United States to integrate art into its public spaces, according to its officials.
Some 30 permanent art exhibits are on display at the airport, including "Mustang," a 32-foot tall, bright blue, cast fiberglass horse sculpture with gleaming red eyes.
New Mexico artist Luis Jiménez created the 9,000-pound piece - the largest of his career.
Jiménez died while working on the sculpture in 2006 when ...

PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE CARNIVAL IN SEYCHELLES
When the Seychelles islands were first settled, it was by a blend of individuals of different ethnicity, customs, and ways of life. Throughout its history and to this very day, Seychelles has continued to be a melting-pot of peoples from the four corners of the Earth who have each contributed their particular thread to the fabric of this vibrant yet peaceful society, adding to it and being, themselves, subtly transformed in return.
Against this background of multi-culturalism, diversity, and the coming together of peoples, it is fitting that Seychelles should be, once again, the focal point of an annual "Carnaval des Carnavals" – bringing representatives from the world’s carnivals to the islands to participate in three days of ce...

Zhong Xi, a Fudan University graduate, is eagerly anticipating the opening of the new Disneyland park in Shanghai, although work, which starts this month, is not expected to finish until 2014.
"I have called on my classmates to have a reunion on that day - five years after we graduate from university," Zhong said.
Many of her classmates are Mickey Mouse fans or enthusiasts of other Disney cartoon figures. They were all born after 1980, and Mickey Mouse clothes, Donald Duck stationery or Snow White dolls are part of their childhood memories.
It is reported that Shanghai Disneyland will include a Magic Kingdom-style theme park with characteristics tailored to the Shanghai region.
"I am wondering what the result of combining Western cartoon figures with Chinese element...

People are rediscovering travel following the recession, according to data unveiled at the World Travel Market, the premier global event for the travel industry.
Latest figures from the World Travel & Tourism Council show that worldwide, travel and tourism’s gross domestic product is expected to rise by 2% this year, compared with a forecast in January of only 0.5%.
However, the WTTC has urged caution, pointing out this sudden growth spurt means that tourism GDP in 2011 will grow by only 2.7%, compared with 3.2% forecast in January.
Figures from the United Nations World Tourism Organization for the first nine months of this year confirm the progressive recovery of the industry with a 7% increase in international arrivals compared with the same period in 2009.
A h...