If you've ever questioned how dedicated Brazilians are to South Florida, consider this: Right now, they are the area’s No. 1 tourists.  

They've elbowed out the Canadians for the first time ever.  

"It's Miami's first billion-dollar international market," said Bill Talbert, the CEO of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.  

In order to get to Miami, Brazilians must first go through the hassle of making an appointment with the government, waiting about three months for an interview and then obtaining a travel visa.  

"Brazil today is the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world and they can't get a visa waiver? Come on. What's going on?" Talbert said. 

He is trying on the campaign trail to convince the government that visas are bad for business. 

"Over a half a million Brazilians spend one night here in Miami. With visa waivers, that number would double. It would go to a million in a year," said Talbert.

President Barack Obama seems to agree. Last month, he added more staff to move the visa process along and make it much faster. South Floridians, however, are impatient.   

"While we applaud what the president did, we can't wait for Brazil to hit visa waiver status," said Andrew Hertz with the Miami Seaquarium.   

Brazil is so important to local businesses that the Seaquarium is training its staff to speak Portuguese, and so is the Mandarin Oriental.   

"We have been catering to them and obviously trying to fit their needs. Now we actually have an office in Sao Paulo for Mandarin Oriental group," said Jorge Gonzalez, of the Mandarin Oriental. 

The visa waiver issue is now in legislation.