Visa Pricing
Tourism South East are concerned about the current visa pricing and application systems and we have been voicing the concerns to the Government on behalf of our members.
For potential visitors from countries that require visas to enter the UK there are a number of obstacles.
Price
The first is the price of a visa to visit the UK. The price went up by 40% to £65 in 2005. Initial research carried out by the Tourism Alliance has suggested that this may have immediately cut demand by 10%.
A visa to visit the rest of Western Europe, the ‘Schengen area’, is only €60, approx £48. To compound this issue of price competitiveness many visitors from the long haul destinations that require visas take tours that include a number of European countries. We already know that a number of travel companies that arrange European tours do not include the UK on the tour as this would incur an extra visa cost of £65 per person.
Complexity
The arrangements for obtaining a visa are also less than straightforward. All applicants must travel to an issuing office in their home country. In countries as large as India and China this is a large task in itself. Tourism South East and other industry bodies believe that that this does not only act as an obstacle to foreign visitors but also creates the impression that Britain is not a welcoming country.
Impact Study
Tourism South East has supported research in to the impact of the visa application and pricing process on visitor numbers to the UK.
Through our membership of the Tourism Alliance we have supported the research which was a joint project between the Alliance, UK Visas and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The work was conducted by Oxford Economics and the results were published earlier this year.
Tourism South East and the Tourism Alliance are sceptical about the inconclusive results of this study. One particular problem is that the study did not separate tourists from business travellers and students. This means that it is impossible to identify the effect that this is having on holidays which are far more price sensitive than business trips or studying abroad.
It is also true that data has only been collected since 2005 which makes it impossible for long term trends to be identified.
Ongoing work.
Tourism South East is continuing to lobby the government on behalf of our members to seek improvements to a system that we believe is detrimental to the national visitor economy.