Partner Article

Business groups concerned UK might discourage Chinese visitors

Theresa May has warned cabinet ministers that relaxing checks on Chinese visitors to the UK, could pose a threat to national security.

In a letter leaked to The Telegraph, from Mrs May’s private secretary, says the proposal to offer an automatic grant of free UK approved destination status (ADS) visa to Chinese holders of a Schengen ADS visa is “not acceptable to the Home Secretary for national security reasons.”

Seniors in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, along with tourism authority, Visit Britain, have raised concern that current visa protocols are discouraging Chinese visitors, with potentially damaging effects for business.

Research from VisitBritain suggests 61% of surveyed Chinese people were put off coming to Britain by difficult visa processes.

In the letter, the Home Secretary refutes these claims, saying the “use of selective statistics” was disappointing, and masked statistics which showed 58% of those who did go through the visa process found it fairly easy, or very easy.

Simon Walker, Director General of the Institute of Directors, said: “It is frustrating that so soon after a triumphant Olympics advertised the UK to the world, the Home Secretary is trying to send the message that visitors are not welcome.

“France and Germany pull in vast numbers of Chinese tourists and business travellers, and their economies benefit from that greatly. We should be making our borders more open and more welcoming to catch up, not hobbling ourselves in the race for international trade.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .