WASHINGTON — Last month, top government officials called a press conference here and promised to be more welcoming to foreign visitors. It appeared to be a feel-good photo-op.

But for the key players in the nation's $645 billion travel and tourism industry, getting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff into the same room delivering that message was a major triumph.

For the first time, the industry had influenced Bush administration policies on border protection, and possibly established for the future that economic and diplomatic benefits of foreign tourism deserve consideration in the war against terrorism.

For more than a year, top industry players including Marriott International CEO J.W. Marriott Jr., and Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, have hammered the message that strict border controls implemented after the Sept. 11 attacks are inflicting collateral damage on their businesses and the U.S. economy. While recognizing the need for secure borders, they say measures taken to thwart terrorism have discouraged would-be visitors to the nation by the millions.

The Jan. 17 joint statement by Rice and Chertoff was the culmination of a major behind-the-scenes push to bring attention to the industry position. Its argument was helped by some key factors: growing statistical evidence of a serious problem, and the enlistment of a key Bush administration ally, Karen Hughes.

The numbers on lost foreign visitors have become too big to ignore. The 48 million foreign visitors to the U.S. last year was 9 percent below 2000. In the same period, worldwide foreign travel soared 17 percent. Had the U.S. kept pace with the increase of foreign travel around the word, an additional 9 million foreigners would have visited last year. The nation's lost opportunity: more than $12 billion in spending, and 150,000 new jobs.

Hughes, a longtime aide to President Bush, now undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, is in charge of burnishing the U.S. image around the globe. Shutting down foreign visits makes her job harder.

In an interview, Hughes acknowledged the need for balance in controlling U.S. borders: "Obviously after Sept. 11, we have to do a better job of securing our borders and knowing who's arriving. At the same time, we want to remain an open and inviting country."

Increasing the number of foreign visitors, she said, "furthers our goal of having people around the world who understand America and American people."

LENGTHY VISA DELAYS

After Sept. 11, new rules made it mandatory for most people seeking visas to come to an embassy for a personal interview and a fingerprint scan. The new requirements took time, which led to lengthy visa delays.

Once travelers arrived, they faced the closer scrutiny and additional security rules that befuddle even experienced U.S. fliers. Hughes said she has talked to a Nigerian scholar who was worried that he was forced to remove his shoes at the U.S. airport checkpoint because of where he is from.

Word is out around the globe of cumbersome visa procedures and other entry rules. It has discouraged many would-be visitors from ever starting the process. For those who do make the trip, probing inspections and rude treatment upon arrival at airports leave many foreigners thinking, "Never again."

Bud Nocera, CEO of Visit Florida, a group that promotes Florida internationally, is among those who welcome the changes. Foreign visitors are particularly important to Florida tourism, he says. In 2004, they spent an average of 12 days and $2,781 in Florida, vs. domestic visitors' six days and $1,387, Nocera said.

"Securing our borders and welcoming international visitors is not and should not be mutually exclusive," he says.

Brazilian travel agent Luiz Carlos de Oliveira says the U.S. has lost its appeal since Sept. 11. Visits to the U.S. from Brazil as of last year were down by 43 percent from 2000, and he doesn't see the pattern reversing itself soon.

In his city of Belo Horizonte, Brazilians must travel about 400 miles to reach the nearest U.S. embassy in Sao Paulo just for the chance of getting a visa. In a country about the size of the U.S., there are only three U.S. consulates to get a visa — if the Brazilian actually gets one. That trip alone can cost about $1,200 for a family of four, due to visa fees, lodging, transportation and meals, he says.

After Sept. 11, the economic impact of the new security crackdown wasn't immediately clear to the travel industry. Wars, SARS and other global issues were thought to be temporarily masking what eventually develops into a significant recovery, it seemed. The travel business has always been cyclical.

Like other hoteliers, Harris Rosen, owner of six hotels in Orlando, Fla., kept that in mind as he watched the number of Brazilian, Swiss and other international visitors slow — then nearly disappear — in 2003 and 2004.

But when two years of favorable dollar exchange rates failed to generate any meaningful turnaround, Rosen and others in the industry began to realize they had a severe problem with regaining their past volume of foreign guests. Normally, a cheap dollar would prompt a rush from Japanese, Europeans and others. Foreigners did travel, but they flew elsewhere.

"They're going to other countries — France, Italy, Germany, Australia — but they're not coming here," Marriott says.

ADDRESSING IMPACT

The U.S. travel industry started to mobilize last year. Trade group Travel Industry Association designated the slide in international travel market share as its top priority. Even earlier, Marriott, as chairman of the President's Export Council, a group of CEOs that advises Bush on trade matters, had begun using his position as a platform to explain the impact on the economy of overly tight visa rules. At a meeting last May, he decried the visa process as "expensive, time consuming, unpredictable."

"The fact that travelers have hassle-free options in other countries that are aggressively marketing themselves has an impact" here, Marriott said.

Marriott, an active Republican with close ties to presidents dating back to Richard Nixon, argued at council meetings that visa hassles are depriving U.S. businesses of income from tourists, exchange students, conventioneers and business travelers.

Marriott approves of the Rice-Chertoff initiatives: "This is a wonderful step in the right direction. I just hope there's a significant amount of follow through."