US to streamline travel visas for Chinese

WASHINGTON / BEIJING - The United States is expected to simplify and quicken the process of visa applications for Chinese travelers, US President Barack Obama announced on Thursday as part of an initiative to boost tourism.

"Every year, tens of millions of tourists from all over the world come and visit America. And the more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get back to work," Obama said in the White House news release.

Emerging markets such as China, Brazil and India are specifically mentioned in his plan as tourists from the three countries contributed about $15 billion and thousands of jobs to the US economy in 2010.