Travel and Tourism news Sabre CEO, Travel and Tourism Leaders Meet with President Obama

Tom Klein, CEO and President of Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), and a small group of travel and tourism industry leaders met with President Barack Obama today to discuss ways to accelerate U.S. travel and tourism, one of the most significant elements of the President’s economic development strategy.
As part of today’s meeting, the President directed his
administration to partner with the travel and tourism industry to encourage more international visitors to the U.S., including specific steps to improve accessibility and service levels at U.S. airports.
The President has also called on Brand USA the country’s nonprofit travel promotion corporation, to work with federal agencies to increase demand for travel to the U.S. Brand USA is also promoting the country in traditional and emerging markets with representation in nearly 20 international markets.
“We applaud the President for his ardent support of the
travel and tourism industry as one of the most valuable
growth engines of the American economy,” said Tom Klein, CEO and President of Sabre Corporation.  “In partnership with the President, Brand USA has exceeded everyone’s expectations in accelerating the volume of international visitors to the United States, adding $7.4 billion to the  U.S. economy in 2013 alone.”
Klein has worked with Brand USA for two years and serves as the organization’s vice chairman.
Among the administration’s new steps to jump start
international visitors to the U.S., is expediting the entry
process for travelers, starting at the 15 largest airports.
Officials will use Dallas-Ft. Worth International and Chicago O’Hare airports as examples of how travel industry and airport teams worked together to successfully reduce wait times for international travelers through expedited customs processes and using automated kiosks for passport checks.

Learn more about the President’s National Travel and
Tourism Strategy. www.nassaunewslive.com

Old Oshodi in Lagos Paid Off

Talking about the traffic situation we experience daily, mostly during the rush hours and even off peak hours.
Thank God for LASMA, they have being able to bring relief to the traffic situations in Lagos. Do you still remember the old Oshodi with its peculiar traffic stand still? Thanks to Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, for tthe transformation of Oshodi, there is now sanity on that road. This is where I am going, back in the 1994, some smart guys took advantage of the situation at Oshodi, both as a tourist site and also won themselves a good business deal.
A young graduate from the university of Benin, with his friend who just arrived from Europe invited some investors from Europe to Nigeria, upon arrival, they where interested in trade and oil and gass, as discussions were going on durind a meeting, the young graduate suggested, they could kick-start the deal by investing in transportation because the process was much faster than that of the oil and gass. The young man had to do a lot of convincing and persuasion, since transportation business wasn't their primary goal. So he promised to take them somewhere special to see things for themselves, the foreign investors were about five in number. Guess where he took them to? OSHODI! They were there at rush hour in the evening, they had never seen such concentration of people and vehicular activities before, (we break a lot of records that are not recorded, we will discuss that matter later on),  the investors started taking pictures, fascinated by the sea of people and activities, you can imagine watching people trying to board a bus and entering through every available entrance such as the door, windows and through the boot of buses....
Tell me what other proof do you need to convince any one that it is a lucrative sector to invest, smart Nigerian. OSHODI paid off.
After three months Seven Fifty-sitter buses and a Luxury bus arrived at the Lagos sea port.  In the tourism industry you can take advantage of any situation and bring out the art and beauty even if it is a red light situation.
Tell me, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE YOUNG GRADUATE?  I will love to read  your views and coments om this. Thank you.
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