50 high net worth Chinese guests, selected out of 250 registered applicants, attended the 3 hour workshop at Beijing’s Parkson Department Store VIP salon.

The guests learned about independent travel in Europe including rail travel, low cost airlines and self drive holidays. They found out about Eurostar’s services and convenient connection between London, Paris and Brussels.

All guests participated in a lucky draw to win flight tickets to Europe and return tickets in any direction on Eurostar.

Furious London tourism bosses today demanded the immediate scrapping of all “colonial bureaucracy” putting off big-spending Chinese visitors after France unveiled a fast-track 48-hour visa processing system.

France has promised to implement 48-hour visa processing that will start this month and be available to Chinese.  The fast track visa system that Britain offers in China is due to start working this summer and will be available for a higher price, and through select travel agencies on a pilot basis. Business leaders in Britain feel that the changes in visa do not go far enough to attract Chinese visitors.

“The Mayor would urge the Government to consider all possible measures in order to ensure London is in the best possible position to continue to compete with our European rivals.”

There is an inherent contradiction between the priorities of the tourism industry and VisitBritain, and those of the Home office and the Immigration service. These contradictions do lead to suggestions that Britain is a difficult place to visit, when perceived by travel agents or consumers in China. When juxtaposed against the ability to visit many European countries on a single visa, Britain’s stance is difficult to justify. While further visa relaxation is needed, communicating what has already been done and showing the positive trend of easing access is just as important now.

Business Secretary Vince Cable made it clear he believed the Coalition needs to step up the pace of reform. He told the Standard: “Britain is lagging behind France and Germany in attracting Chinese visitors and they usually cite the visa regime as the problem. “There have been some recent improvements but we cannot allow ourselves to trail behind France in what some call the global race.”

Europe has many advantages to Chinese visitors compared to the UK – more famous landmarks, well known fashion and luxury brands, food that is made popular in China, easy cross-border crossings. Britain has its advantages too but in many instances, people’s perception of the visa challenges puts them off making the attempt to even apply.

During a visit to China in autumn, Chancellor George Osborne announced plans for a limited relaxation of the system, including a 24-hour “super-priority” visa service for business leaders, and a pilot scheme to allow Chinese tourists to apply for a UK visa using the Schengen form through “approved” tour operators.

It’s good to show that our policies are being relaxed and we are making efforts to be more inviting. From the Chinese perspective, this seems too slow and too little compared to other countries that either offer a total visa waiver to Chinese now, visa on arrival or expedited visa processing. Recent research from Skyscanner and Hotels.com points to visa application being a major consideration in the destination selection by Chinese travellers.

A Home Office spokewoman said 284,000 visas for Chinese visitors were processed last year, a 40 per cent rise, with an average processing time of seven days. She said: “We already offer a 3-5 day priority service and this year we are introducing a super-priority 24-hour service. We’ve listened to retailers, travel companies and customers.”

It seems that there is growing pressure from the business community and from within the government to improve the relationship with China and become more inviting to Chinese visitors. The changes already announced came about after intense lobbying, which can and should continue so that Britain can reach the level of visitors from China (and other emerging markets) that is truly deserves.

Some themes for European destinations in 2006
•    London: 2008 the Year of China
•    Germany: 2006 FIFA World Cup
•    Austria: 250 Anniversary of Mozart
•    Direct flights are a major selling point in destination marketing. Choice of tour operator in Europe and number of nights in each destination are decided by the first port of arrival.
•    “Visa shopping” in the past meant agents would bargain with different consulates to find the cheapest and simplest visa application and with it the choice of first destination. With the implementation of the overall ADS procedure this should be not be the case anymore, as all the embassies and consulates are supposed to apply the same rules.
•    Nevertheless, visa shopping still exists as some embassies and consulates process visas faster (e.g. larger staff capacity at their visa departments), have better facilities (such as special opening hours for ADS visa couriers), communicate in a more transparent way, are more service-oriented or are less fussy with visa processing (lower rejection rates). All contribute to the image of a certain destination and have an impact on sales.