The head of a London-based campaign to make it easier for high spending Chinese tourists to apply for UK visas today pledged to step up the pressure on the Government.
John Lewis director Andrew Murphy has been named chairman of the UK China Visa Alliance, a coalition of retail and business bodies whose members include Burberry, Harrods and The Savoy.
The Alliance is pushing for a streamlined single visa system for Chinese visitors to Europe instead of one visa for the 26 countries in the Schengen area, including France, Italy and Germany, and a separate one for the UK.
London retailers fear the capital is missing out on billions of pounds of spending because of the hassle involved in coming to Britain. Last year only 215,000 Chinese residents visited the UK, compared with 2.8 million from America.
Mr Murphy said: “More must be done by the Government to ensure that the UK attracts its fair share of Chinese visitors.”
