Visa hike hitting tourist numbers

Many visitors are being put off from travelling to the UK due to a hike in visa prices imposed in the summer.

The claim comes today from the European Tour Operators Association following analysis of official data from the Home Office and the International Passenger Survey (IPS).

ETOA say this provides “strong evidence” that the hike in UK visa prices in July has clearly deterred many visitors. As a result, many operators are devising itineraries which miss out the UK altogether. 

The cost of the typical tourist visa, allowing multiple entries to the UK, rose nearly 40% from £36 to £50. For students the cost rose from £36 to £85. 

In the months that followed, the UK suffered an 18% decline in visa applications, according to ETOA.

Inbound operators specialising in the budget markets of China, India and Russia have complained to ETOA about the price of UK visas and cite the high price as a major obstacle to selling the UK. 

A family of four considering a touring holiday in Europe is now looking at a bill of £200 just to enter the UK – a visit which may only last two or three days. For as little as £27 an individual can purchase a ‘Schengen’ visa – which gives them the freedom of most of Europe.

ETOA claims that data from the IPS also rebuts claims made by the Home Office that the fall in applications to visit Britain was due to the London bombings in July. 

“The survey shows that during the three months after the London bombings, visitor numbers from long-haul markets grew by an average of 1.6%, suggesting that other factors such as fuel surcharges or terrorist incidents were not to blame for the dramatic decline in visa sales,” ETOA said.

Executive director Tom Jenkins said: “There seems to have been an assumption behind these increases that people will come to Britain whatever the cost. This assumption has been proved wrong. It has always been difficult to get a visa, it is now perceived as being disproportionally expensive.

“What causes particular concern is that visa costs impact the most price sensitive origin countries. These are also evolving markets.

“In the short term a drop in demand of 15% from China or India perhaps matters only to specialist operators. But the customers we are driving away are the vanguard of future volume. Each visitor tells 20 people of their experience. Thus for every thousand that we deter now, twenty thousand potential visitors are lost.

“Tour operators now have to devise European itineraries that avoid the UK. As these are proving more popular, the UK is losing its position as a productive feature on tours which are available to the wider incoming market. The London airports – and those carriers that service them – also lose market share, as the UK ceases to be the main gateway for incoming visitors to Europe.”

Report by Phil Davies