UK duty free and travel retailers are set to benefit from a new visa initiative announced by Chancellor George Osborne which paves the way for Chinese visitors – among the highest spending shoppers per head – to get their visa fees refunded.

 

Currently Chinese travellers coming to Europe must apply for a separate visa to enter the UK as the country is not part of the Schengen zone. This requires both extra time and cost to Chinese travellers and many choose to leave the UK out of their European tours as a result.

 

Under the new scheme, the UK government plans to refund the cost of 25,000 Chinese visas, via tour operators, to those that book UK tours.

 

By doing this there is expected to be a net gain of £8m-£15m ($13-£24m) and create between 150 and 300 new jobs. While details are still being finalised, it is expected that the refunds will be linked to tours with a minimum number of nights outside London.

 

UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Sajid Javid (left) says: “This initiative 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.”

 

SPENDING LEVELS HIT $800M

Despite the current visa hurdles, Chinese inbound figures to the UK are strong. There were 196,000 visits in 2013, a +10% increase on 2012, with visitors spending £492m ($797m) last year, an increase of +64% on 2012.

 

The average Chinese visitor to the UK spends around four times as much as the average inbound visitor according to tourism agency VisitBritain

 

Visits from China doubled between 2009 and 2012. However they tripled between China and both the US and Switzerland indicating that the UK is losing out, despite the growth. VisitBritain’s goal is to welcome 650,000 Chinese visits a year by 2020. The agency says that would make them worth nearly £1.1bn ($1.78bn) annually to the UK economy.

 

By 2015 there will be 100m outbound tourists from China according to UNWTO.

 

This year VisitBritain launched a campaign (main image) to make Britain the most welcoming destination for Chinese visitors in Europe. In November, the agency will also announce a joint funded £1.6m marketing campaign in China, the biggest it has ever undertaken.