United Kingdom To Give off Two Year Multiple Entry Visas to Chinese Tourists to Boost UK Tourism Economy
United Kingdom to give off two year multiple-entry visas for Chinese tourists from its six months visa rules. The British Prime Minister, David Cameron made an announcement on Wednesday while Chinese President, Xi Jinping is on a state visit in the British country. Along with visa extension, the application fee, 85 pounds ($131) will also not increase.
According to Skift, the initiative is to increase the free-spending Chinese tourists in UK. The Prime Minister is also considering of adding 10 years in visas to motivate them to come back. He said, "China is becoming one of our fastest-growing tourism markets so making it easier and more convenient for Chinese visitors to come to the U.K. is extremely important," Cameron said in an e-mailed statement. The change "is great news for our tourism industry and great news for the British economy enabling us to maximize Chinese spending power even further."
The ECNS also reported the new reformed rules visa will take effect in January, next year and expected the added 10 year term in the following months. An online statement by the British government was released, said this initiatives are aimed to strengthen the China and United Kingdom partnership. "It's focusing on one of the real attractions that we have. The Chinese population love coming here for our culture, our heritage, and our retail," explained by the United Kingdom's Prime Minister's representative.
The British Government will also extend the coverage of the fingerprint collecting services in China in some of the 50 Chinese cities from its nine cities previous deal, according to Wall Street Journal. However, the British government is still negotiating with the Chinese government about adding more UK visa application center.
Chinese tourists have flooded several shopping centers in Japan and Europe and it is said they are to take the opportunity of the currency weakness from the countries. However, Chinese shoppers have spent less amount of money in UK as the country's currency value is still strong.