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Carole Poole sees U.S. President George W. Bush and flashes an "L" sign with one hand, signifying "loser."

"Give him some bunny ears," says her friend.

"Should I?" asks a giggling Poole, who is visiting from South Carolina. After a moment's hesitation, she sticks two fingers up behind the president's head as her friend snaps a picture.

Meanwhile, around the corner, a group of teenaged girls are going gaga over Barack Obama, each keen to have her photo taken with the Democratic nominee for president.

These aren't the real Bush and Obama; they're figures at Madame Tussaud's Washington, D.C., wax museum. But the reactions they prompt from visitors here are a good indication of how people in the U.S. and around the world feel toward both men.

And that enthusiasm may prove to be good news for Washington as well as Obama, travel experts say. If the man who has campaigned on the slogan "The Change We Need" is elected, he is expected by many to change the fortunes of Washington's travel industry, greatly boosting tourism in America's capital.

"This will be a sea change," says William Hanbury, president and chief executive of the tourism bureau Destination D.C. "There is a terrific amount of interest internationally in Obama and his campaign, and that will equate to additional interest in Washington, D.C."

Madame Tussaud's has already started building on Obama's momentum. Usually the museum includes only presidents in its cast of political figures, according to marketing and sales manager Shameka Lloyd. But when they asked visitors what else they would like to see at the museum, "we got an overwhelming response that people wanted to see Barack Obama," Lloyd says.

In the past eight years, the city has been linked in many people's minds with the nation's polarizing president, an association that has probably translated into fewer tourist dollars. Washington tourism has seen a sharp decline since Bush took office. In 2000, 17.38 million people visited the city. That number declined steadily over the next six years, reaching a low of just over 15 million in 2006.

Much of that decline, Hanbury says, can be attributed to potential visitors who disapprove of Bush and his policies. "Our international perception and our image has really suffered in the last seven or eight years," he says.

"There are consumers sitting in London today saying, 'We could go to Dubai or we could go to Washington, D.C., and bloody hell, we're not going to Washington because we don't like the politics of the U.S.,' and D.C. is obviously more connected to that than any other city in America."

However, the city saw a 7-per-cent increase in tourism from 2006 to 2007. Destination D.C. is predicting double-digit growth in tourism in 2008, and Hanbury credits some of that growth to interest in the U.S. and around the world in the presidential campaign and the change it promises. "We think there is the potential for a pretty dramatic effect," he says.

In the short term, the fortunes of Washington's travel industry are bound to rise no matter who is elected president.

Presidential inaugurations have traditionally attracted huge numbers of visitors to the nation's capital. In 2004, about 700,000 people visited Washington to mark Bush's second inauguration.

If Obama is elected president, Destination D.C. estimates that 1.5 million people will visit the city during the inauguration period, and many hotels in the city are gearing up.

In September, the Hyatt Regency Washington, just blocks from the Capitol building, unveiled a $7-million renovation.

"We wanted to have it all ready for election night, obviously, then pushing forward to the inauguration," says Tammy Hagin, the hotel's director of public relations.

"I know a lot of other properties in the D.C. area have been working on renovation projects and fine-tuning before the inauguration comes up."'

Other hotels are certainly expecting a significant boost to their bottom lines. "January is going to make our year," says Kari Koskela, manager of the Ritz Carlton Washington.

And beyond the inauguration? Koskela is rooting for an Obama presidency. "From a business point of view, it would probably be better if Obama won."

That is the consensus throughout the city's tourism industry: that an Obama presidency would improve Washington's reputation and improve their fortunes. If he wins, "I would expect to see international travel spike,"

Hagin says.

And why not? Hanbury says there is a broad sense, in Washington as much as anywhere else, that this is a special moment.

"There hasn't been anything like it in American history," he says.

"People are going to want to come here and feel and see the power and inspiration that comes from such a historic election."

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Change is gonna come

A few destinations are expected to see particular increases in visitors if Barack Obama is elected.

The White House

This is the president's residence, after all, and plenty of people are expected to want to go see where Obama lives and soak up the historical significance of the first African American to call the White House home.

Madame Tussaud's

If Obama is elected president, the museum (opened last year) expects bigger crowds flocking to have their picture taken with the life-sized statue.

All things Lincoln

If elected, Obama would be the second senator from Illinois to become president. The Lincoln Memorial and Ford's Theater - where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated - can expect a boost in tourists, says Chris Geickel of Destination D.C., given the two men's shared starting point.

African-American history

Seeing the first African-American president of the U.S. is expected to have a significant impact on the district's three museums

focused on African-American

culture and its roots: The African-American Civil War Museum, the National Museum of African Art and the Anacostia Community Museum.