NIAGARA FALLS — President Obama’s feet were planted in Disney World on Jan. 19 when he announced a nationwide tourism initiative, but his words echoed 1,200 miles north.

Leaders here welcomed Obama’s plan to help more travelers from China and Brazil obtain visas, since international travelers make up 20 percent of the Falls’ yearly tourists and an “overwhelming majority” come from Asian countries.

“For someone like the president to bring it to the main stage, to a nation-al arena, is astounding and is welcomed,” said John Percy, president and chief executive of the Niagara Tourism & Convention Corp. “To have these visa restrictions lightened or less restrictive is a welcome for us, because that opens more doors for international travel.”

The national plan has drawn others to take stock of the Falls’ tourism industry, which many view as an untapped gold mine.

“The simple truth is, we have no choice,” said Eddie Friel, a former European tourism executive now teaching at Niagara University. “If we are to create a sustainable community for the present and future generations, we need to look to industries that will generate wealth and create jobs. In the case of Niagara Falls, the major opportunity is tourism.

For decades, the industry was brushed off as a Canadian endeavor, below the pay grade of unionized factory workers along Buffalo Avenue.

“Tourism was an afterthought for much of the time I was growing up,” said Mayor Paul A. Dyster. “Industry was how we made our living, and tourism very much played second fiddle. Now, with industry falling by the wayside, we’re looking for other ways to make a living.”

The answer may be found in the large cloud of mist rising from the famous cataracts and in the 8 million tourists who pay to watch the water fall each year.

“We’ve been given this Godgiven attraction of Niagara Falls, which is an utterly awesome experience,” said Friel, who helped turn post-industrial Glasgow, Scotland, into a tourism destination. “What we haven’t done, is to build on it.”

Progress has been slow but steady.

West of the boarded-up houses and pothole-ridden roads runs Old Falls Street, built by the state as the cobblestone centerpiece of downtown events. Springing from there is the Conference Center Niagara Falls, the refurbished Giacomo Hotel and office building, the recently opened TGI Friday’s and the under-construction Niagara County Community College culinary institute.

“If you were to sit and look at the past five years — what does Niagara Falls have that it didn’t have five years ago? — you’d be quite surprised,” Friel said. “It isn’t all bad news.”

The idea is to get tourists who visit Niagara Falls State Park to branch out to other parts of the city. Dyster hopes the planned Whirlpool Street train station and Underground Railroad heritage center attract more visitors, who could be carted around the city in green Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority trolleys.

“If you want tourism to play a role as one of the leading industries, you have to treat tourism as an industry,” Dyster said. “Tourism isn’t like spring flowers [where] every year they bloom and you wonder where the bulbs come from. You have to invest in tourism, tourism infrastructure, work force development for tourism and marketing for tourism.”

Following the infrastructure is a change in attitude — that tourism isn’t a sideshow, but a legitimate economic base, Percy and Friel said. Tourism jobs are good entry points for workers looking for flexible hours or trying to further their education, Dyster said.

“Where you start in the tourism industry is not where you end up,” Dyster said. “[Friel] is an excellent example of that.”

Percy said that for every few maids or bellhops, there is a sales manager, general manager and executive.

“I think we’ve got to get away from the perception that these are just low-paying jobs,” he said.

Private development has been stifled for years by the bureaucracy of government agencies and high state taxes, Friel said. Public-private partnerships have helped Glasgow gain 66,000 tourism jobs since 1983, he said.

“As soon as somebody tries to do something, it has to be supported by public sector or taxpayers’ money,” he said. “I don’t believe that everything has to be paid for by taxpayers. That’s not my view of how economic development works.”

State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, has said certain hotel projects in the Falls don’t create enough jobs to merit their state subsidies.

“My bottom line in all of this is this: How many private-sector, living-wage jobs, permanent jobs, is it going to create?” he said in August.

A glance across the Niagara River shows how planning and vision transform a city.

The challenge for the American side, Friel said, is telling its own stories—such as its role in the Underground Railroad — and developing its own attractions.

“You’ve got the Buffalo urban region, you’ve got the Niagara Falls urban region,” he said. “What’s different about those places? You’re talking about differentiation. If we try and make everything the same and blur the edges, we miss the point. Those are two very unique places, the combination of which makes a very compelling story.”

He also sees the development of Niagara Falls International Airport as crucial to giving international visitors easy access to the falls.

Percy said the national tourism plan will also help.

Part of an executive order signed by Obama, the plan is to increase nonimmigrant visa-processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent, allow some nationals to stay in the United States for up to 90 days without a visa and develop a national travel and tourism strategy.

“This world is a global marketplace, and it’s nice to see us coming to the main stage,” Percy said. “It brings tourism to the forefront and getting it recognized as a vital economic engine. Niagara Falls is usually on the list of places to visit, and it pushes us even further. We have to be in those international markets.”

cspecht@buffnews.comnull