A new Chinese Visa initiative has been announced by Chancellor George Osborne, attracting an immediate welcome from Patricia Yates, Director of Strategy and Communications, who said: “This is a most welcome scheme and acts as the perfect catalyst to enable Chinese tourists to not only visit Britain, but travel right across the country.
“Working together with tour operators, VisitBritain will ensure our messaging remains welcoming and that we continue to deliver jobs and growth for Britain’s fifth largest export – tourism.”
Culture Secretary Sajid Javid added: “This initiative will encourage more Chinese people to come and enjoy the best of Britain – from our rich heritage and spectacular scenery to our world class museums and vibrant cities. It underlines our commitment to strengthen links with China and that we are ready to welcome the growing number of Chinese people that are choosing to holiday in the UK.”
The scheme
A new initiative will refund the cost of 25,000 Chinese visas, via tour operators, to those booking UK tours.
The scheme to promote the UK is expected to generate between £8m and £15m, and between 150 and 300 new jobs. Further details to be finalised shortly, but it is envisaged that a proportion of the total allocation will be linked to tours with a minimum number of nights outside London.
The government is committed to developing and strengthening tourism links between China and the UK.
The scheme will help Chinese tourists explore our rich heritage and countryside.
This year VisitBritain launched the GREAT China Welcome campaign to make Britain the most welcoming destination for Chinese visitors in Europe. In November 2014, VisitBritain will also announce a joint funded £1.6 million marketing campaign in China. The biggest the national tourism agency for Britain has ever undertaken.
Latest China inbound figures
There were 196,000 visits from China to the UK in 2013 – a 10% increase on 2012. Visitors from China spent £492 million in the UK in 2013, an increase of 64% in nominal terms on 2012. The average Chinese visitor to the UK spends around four times as much as the average inbound visitor.
Visits from China have doubled in the last five years and VisitBritain’s goal is to welcome 650,000 Chinese visits a year by 2020, worth nearly £1.1 billion annually to the UK economy
While visits from China to the UK doubled between 2009 and 2012, they tripled between China and both the USA and Switzerland.
China
97 million Chinese citizens travelled abroad in 2013 and China is now the world’s most valuable tourism market (CNTA) – worth US$128.6 billion in 2013, around 50% higher than the world’s second most valuable market, the USA. (UNWTO)
By 2015 there will be 100 million outbound tourists from China, a target which has already been brought forward from 2020. (UNWTO)
Chinese interest in Europe is high, with the number of Chinese visitors to Europe set to increase by 9.4 million between 2012 and 2021.
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