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in business. For the first time since the dawn of the computer age, foreigners could go to
one website and find what the United States had to offer. No more guessing at things like
the name of the national railroad (Amtrak).
With the door open this far, the industry pushed even harder. They were too close to
their goal of catching up from that lost decade. Now the association lobbied for the last
piece of the puzzle: to improve the visa process by making it easier to apply, and to reduce
the waiting time for approval. Freeman explained why in basic business terms. “We always
had a good product—the United States. With the website we had the ability to promote
and market our product. But our customer still couldn't buy the product. They couldn't
get a visa. What we needed was a streamlined, efficient, and safe, visa process.”
The president's council on jobs and competitiveness had singled out tourism for its po-
tential to create jobs and recommended a move on visas. Secretary of State Hillary Clin-
ton made Thomas R. Nides, a deputy secretary and former executive at Goldman Sachs,
her point man on the issue. Nides spoke the same language as the tourism businessmen
and he was an old friend of the Secretary; he had been a big fundraiser for her when she
ran for president. A plan emerged to increase staff in consulates and embassies to work
on visa applications, to streamline the process and to reduce the waiting time for visas to
weeks rather than months.
The figures for granting tourism visas to the United States in growing markets such as
Brazil and China improved by up to one-third. “Secretary Clinton put in charge someone
who literally changed travel for us—Tom Nides was that important to us,” said Freeman.
Proof of that effort was an announcement halfway across the world at the U.S. consulate
in Shanghai. In one year that office had issued 800,000 visas, breaking previous records.
U.S. Consul General Beatrice Camp marked the occasion by making a short speech at
the visa office, standing before rows of Chinese waiting in seats for their turn for a visa in-
terview. She told a few jokes, promised that the consulate was on its way to answering visa
requests in a timely manner. And to celebrate she held a drawing for the people standing
in line, giving away three free trips to Hawaii and Guam to the lucky winners.
By year's end, the State Department processed 46 percent more visa applications in
China and 59 percent more in Brazil—the two countries whose wealthy middle class is
itching to come to America. This was a sea change. Backlogs of visa applications were
clearing out; a new attitude and process was being felt in U.S. consular offices. For many
diplomats this was a welcome relief, since they believe that tourism does help relations
between peoples. When she returned from Shanghai, I had lunch with Beatrice Camp,
and she said it was one of her great joys to help Chinese see the United States with their
own eyes. “Person-to-person diplomacy does work.”
The government was picking up speed, expanding on the president's proposal to open
up the country to tourism to create jobs.
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