Contradictions over China
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China’s tourism industry is booming. New statistics released this week indicate that the Government is falling short of the number of Chinese tourists it wants. But with an expensive and lengthy visa process, more air taxes and a limited number of flights, is this news really a surprise? Amanda Greenwood looks into the problems for the inbound tourism market. Head here for how tourism from the UK to China is faring.
Travel and tourism is often a contradictory arena when it comes to the UK Government. An area that Government uses for public relations and marketing but does not view as a contender for business and economic growth. A tourism strategy and a tourism minister was appointed in the run-up to the Olympic Games, but then dropped after despite talk of building a ‘legacy’. This moment was particularly conflicting when after the games, secretary of state Jeremy Hunt announced a target to grow inbound tourism visitors from China by 35% by 2015.
Everyone currently wants a slice of the Chinese tourism market. Every hotel, tourism board and travel company out there is switching tactics to appeal to the Chinese traveller. Travellers from the country now spend more on outbound travel than any other nation, spending GBP66 billion in 2012, 40% more than in 2011.
With this in mind it would come as a shock, although not a surprise, to hear that the UK is behind on attracting the number of Chinese travellers that it wants.
Figures released by the Tourism Alliance this week found only 10% of tours running to Europe from China now include the UK, down from 50% pre-2007. France receives eight times as more Chinese visitors than the UK and while Hunt was hoping for 500,000 visitors in 2015, the realistic figure is currently at 317, 109.
These holidaymakers are itching to see the UK’s history and spend money in our luxury shops but face increased air fares thanks to Air Passenger Duty, and a lengthy visa process. There are also not as many direct flights due to constraints in London’s airport capacity.
“These figures are certainly disappointing to see,” Rob McIvor, communications director at London First and leading partner of the UK China Visa Alliance told Travel Daily. “VisitBritain has been doing a great job but it is worrying that in the post-Olympic stage there are cuts to both VisitBritain and London and Partners. That seems like an own goal when we are trying to capitalise on the games, and now of course the Royal arrival.”
Visa process
Although there are several factors to take into account, the visa process is the one which has the most potential to turn the numbers around.
To include the UK in a European tour, tour operators or travellers currently have to apply for visas in two separate centres, which can be, in extreme cases, three hours’ flight away from each other. The UK visa forms are long and in English language, and it is expensive.
It is already easier for a Chinese business traveller to obtain a visa following recent changes, but the leisure market is just as important. The UK retail sector alone is thought to be losing more than GBP1 billion a year in sales from the China market as a result of the lower tourism numbers. As a result, businesses are teaming up to urge the Government to simplify the system.
The UK China Visa Alliance (UKCVA) was set up a year ago to make the case collectively and now has John Lewis’ retail director Andrew Murphy at the helm as chairman. Its own analysis has shown only around 7% of Chinese visitors to Europe choose to get the two visas required to visit the UK (the Schengen and the UK’s own). Clearly some action is needed.
Solution?
Some changes have already been made to the visa process, with the situation to also become easier when European and UK airports adopt the same biometric systems.
The Home Office recently announced some initiatives to tackle the problem, such as a service where UK immigration officials visit homes to get fingerprints, but for a fee. The UKCVA has been in talks with the Home Office to see if the multi drop-off can be combined at a single point, which it believes will encourage more tour operators to include the UK in itineraries.
Despite being disappointed by the Tourism Alliance figures, the UKCVA is confident that there is a step in the right direction to a resolution.
“There has been a huge change in tone in the past few months with the visa and immigration services, particularly after Teresa May shook up the system and separated the process and enforcement side,” explained McIvor. “There is a wind of change and we have the sense that the visa and immigration services is starting to focus on Chinese immigration issues and actively look at ways to improve the process. The direction is encouraging and there is potential to reach the target.”
On the continent, the European Commission (EC) seems to be making a step in the right direction too with a strategy to simplify the visa application process for the Chinese. Last week Antonio Tajani, vice president of the EC said plans are being drawn up to ease the currently time-consuming method and could see the EU introduce an electronic system in the future.
The Government is at least aware of the discontent. It knows the importance of business coming into the UK; relationships with China and the barrage of statistics that counteract what it is trying to achieve. APD went up on 1 April despite cries from the industry but then funding cuts to VisitBritain and VisitEngland were lower than expected. The positivity from the UKCVA suggests a tipping point is on its way, now it’s just a question of when.
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