The Tourism industry has united behind calls for a review of visas fees after UKvisas…
The Tourism industry has united behind calls for a review of visas fees after UKvisas increased the cost of multiple entry visas by almost 40% and student visas by 136% without warning or consultation.
Stephen Dowd, Chief Executive of UKinbound, stated that “the cost of visas for a family of four will now be at least £200 and could be as high as £260 if applications are outsourced. This is over twice the average cost of visas to European countries and will result in the UK being taken out of tour operators’ itineraries.”
Collectively members of UKinbound handle over 60% of all inbound visitors to the UK and the association has embarked on a campaign encouraging its members to write to their MPs highlighting the damage these fee increases will cause to the industry.
Work by the Tourism Alliance on the impact of these increases using price elasticity modelling developed by Strathclyde University shows that UKvisas` ability to increase charges without consideration of the effect on tourism is costing the UK millions in lost revenue each year.
“Our preliminary analysis indicates that tourism revenue from just 18 of the 108 countries affected by the increase will decrease by over £20m per annum as a result. When the total cost of visas is taken into consideration, the impact will be well over £100m per annum” stated Tourism Alliance Chairman, Brigid Simmonds.
Lord Marshall, Chairman of VisitBritain emphasised this in a letter to the Financial Times stating that, while our hospitality industry raises its productivity, our airlines open new routes from growth markets, and our national tourist board seeks every opportunity to build visitor numbers and spending for Britain, now is not the time to be placing obstacles in the way of our international competitiveness.
At the moment, UKvisas lacks any Public Service Agreement Targets to reflect its important role in facilitating the generation of tourism revenue from legitimate travellers. This needs to change so that UKvisas becomes accountable to the industry on which it impacts.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
