Tourism Seen Adding $850 Billion With Obama’s New Visas: Retail

Bloomingdale’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Gould is a fan of President Barack Obama’s efforts to speed up tourist visas for Chinese and Brazilian shoppers.

Doing so would create an “immediate” surge in retail sales as foreign shoppers clamor for Marc Jacobs and Kate Spade designs, Gould said in a telephone interview Jan. 27. The department store chain is preparing for a potential boom by tailoring merchandise assortments to Brazilian and Chinese tastes and advertising outside of the U.S. for the first time.