The Obama administration believes it can create 1 million new jobs by promoting international tourism, boosting nonimmigrant visa processing capacity and expanding the Visa Waiver Program.

The White House initiative is aimed at drawing more tourists from China and Brazil. The government plans to increase visa processing capacity in those fast-growing countries by 40% this year.

The Visa Waiver Program allows participating nationals to travel to the United States for stays of 90 days or less without a visa. President Obama signed an executive order directing the Homeland Security and State departments to make sure that tourists who do need visas get them quickly. He wants 80% of all visa applicants to be interviewed within 21 days.

The travel and tourism industry represents 2.7% of the gross domestic product and sustains 7.5 million U.S. jobs, according to the White House. In 2010, 60 million international visitors came here. But the share of spending by international tourists has fallen from 17% to 11% during the last decade, largely because of restrictions put in place because of the 9/11 attacks.

The administration plans to appoint a group of corporate chief executives to the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. The Walt Disney Company currently draws about 25% of its visitors from outside the country, and company officials say that figure has ample room to grow.

Mitt Romney, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, welcomed an endorsement this week from immigration activist Kris Kobach.

Is this the best thing that could have happened to President Obama?

Kobach is a lawyer and radio talk show host who is affiliated with the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a group favored by the Tea Party and the ultra-conservative wing of the party.

Kobach wrote the Arizona law that gives police the power to question and arrest suspected undocumented immigrants. He also helped write a similar law in Alabama that is the strictest in the nation.

Hispanic groups have no use for Kobach or his lawmaking. Somewhere between 12 million and 13 million Hispanics and Latinos are expected to be eligible to vote in November. They are especially influential in critical swing states such as Florida, Nevada and Colorado.

John McCain got 31% of the Hispanic vote in 2008 and President Obama 67%. Republicans are hoping to get at least 40% this time to unseat Obama.

But several Republican Hispanic groups have withdrawn their support for Romney after the Kobach endorsement. Dee Dee Garcia Blase of Somos Republicans said that by accepting the endorsement, "Romney committed political suicide."

Mitt Romney dug his hardline positions in deeper on immigration during Monday's Republican presidential debate in South Carolina.

The GOP frontrunner rejected any solution for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country that allows them to remain here. Romney said they must return to their homelands.

"I absolutely believe that those who come here illegally should not be given favoritism or a special route to becoming permanent residents or citizens that's not given to those people that have stayed in line legally," he said. "I just think we have to follow the law. I think that's the right course."

President Obama this week promoted Cecilia Munoz, currently the director of intergovernmental affairs, to director of the Domestic Policy Council.

Munoz, 49, has been the White House's leader in reaching out to Hispanic groups. Before joining the administration, she was a senior vice president of the National Council of La Raza, the country's largest Hispanic civil rights group.