House of Commons - Tourism - Culture, Media and Sport

Tourism - Culture, Media and Sport Contents

3 Getting here

Visa and border arrangements

38. The majority of foreign visitors to the UK do not need a visa but, with around 1.7 million visit visas issued each year (and increasing), it is important to have a good quality visa service enabling legitimate travellers to come to the UK.[60]

39. The complexity and cost of acquiring a visa to visit Britain can both have an effect on the number of incoming tourists. Kurt Janson of the Tourism Alliance told us: "We have been tracking visitor numbers from visa-requiring countries, especially the main BRIC[61] countries, for the last 20 years. What it shows is that up until 2008 we were tracking at a fairly constant level for most BRIC countries. Once the requirements for biometric visas came in, our share of Russia, India and China all fell by about 40% in one year."[62] Biometric visas are due to be introduced for the 26 Schengen countries in May, something which concerns the Tourism Alliance since, it believes, potential tourists will not wish to visit two processing centres: one for the UK and one for the Schengen countries. The Tourism Alliance would like to see the UK sharing biometric processing centres with other European countries; these would serve as a one-stop shop for visa applicants.

40. We encourage the Government to establish joint biometric processing centres with other European countries.

41. The cost of visas is another important factor. The Tourism Alliance told us: "At the moment the Home Office loses £48 on each six month visitor visa that it issues (the cost of processing is £136 and the customer is charged £83). However, 5 year and 10 year visas are very expensive (£511 and £737 respectively) meaning that there is little incentive for leisure visitors to apply. It would make sense to lower the cost of a long-term visa to the breakeven point, thereby encouraging customers to trade-up to a 5 or 10 year visa, saving the Home Office money and providing visitors with an incentive to undertake multiple trips to the UK."[63]

42. Brigid Simmonds of the British Beer and Pub Association endorsed these views: "We would love to see the 10 year visitor visa extended to encourage more leisure visits. People would be encouraged to come multiple times and, if you charged £136 for a 10 year visa for reasons of leisure, that would cover the costs of Government."[64]

43. The Government should do more to make the cost of UK visas competitive, for example by moving towards the issue to bona fide tourists of more multiple entry, long term visas.

44. According to UKinbound, the technical and cost issues associated with the visa system, together with the immigration process at the Border, perpetuate a perception that the UK is not welcoming to the inbound visitor: "This has real consequences for those visitors for whom the UK is one of a number of holiday choices, and is particularly relevant to new and emerging markets. Although never imposed, the impact of the media coverage of the proposed visa bond for India in 2013 sent bookings from that market into freefall."[65] UKinbound calls for "pro-active messaging both online and through individual contact that international visitors are welcome and wanted", and for "further training … to ensure that the customer experience is first-class through the entire immigration process—from application to arrival."[66]

45. ABTA has also called for improvements in the public sector side of the passenger experience, such as queues at the UK borders: "Whilst we all want a safe and secure border, long queues to enter the UK undermine our position as a global trading hub and create a poor welcome to Britain for visitors and returning citizens."[67] ABTA told us that they welcomed the improvements made for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and "is pleased that focus has continued since." They added: "Emphasis should also be placed on a friendly welcome by immigration officials."[68]

46. While we heard one story of an unwelcoming immigration official,[69] we did not receive evidence to suggest that this was in any way typical of a professional and sometimes hard-pressed Border Force. Indeed, the issue might be more one of staffing levels and management. As British Destinations put it to us: "Aircraft don't for example just arrive in the UK unannounced and passenger numbers are, we assume, known before departure to the UK. We get a sense that perhaps at the more strategic level planning has been more reactive that proactive in the past, although we do also recognise that judging scale and the time lag may make it impossible to assess the level of border staff need in Heathrow next year as a consequence of a campaign in China today."[70]

47. We recommend that Border Force staffing levels are maintained at levels that can meet the demand posed by what we hope will be increasing numbers of tourists. Training of Border Force staff should always factor in the need to provide a welcoming reception to genuine tourists.

Airport capacity

48. The Airport Operators Association (AOA) told us that some 72% of inbound visitors arrive by air and account for 83% of all inbound visitors' spending. One of the concerns of the Association is the UK's performance in terms of aviation "connectivity": "the frequency of services, the economic value they drive, the accessibility of destinations right across the UK, whether flights take place at convenient times and their capacity."[71] The AOA goes on to "urge the committee to support the arguments in favour of rapid deployment of new runway capacity and encourage all of the political parties to await the Final Report of the [Airports] Commission and then to act swiftly on its recommendations."[72]

49. The Airports Commission is an independent commission chaired by Sir Howard Davies and includes four other members. It examines the need for additional UK airport capacity and recommends to government how this can be met in the short, medium and long term.[73] The Airports Commission works with the Department for Transport. On 11 November 2014 the Commission published for consultation its assessment of proposals for additional runway capacity at Gatwick and Heathrow airports. In its interim report, published in December 2013, the commission had identified a need for one net additional runway in London and the South East and shortlisted for detailed appraisal and public consultation three proposals to deliver this capacity, two from Heathrow and one from Gatwick. These three proposals are entitled: Gatwick Airport Second Runway, Heathrow Airport Extended Northern Runway, Heathrow Airport North West Runway.

50. The Tourism Alliance told us that it does not have a position on whether the additional capacity needed should be at Heathrow or Gatwick. Ufi Ibrahim of the Alliance provided us with the following elaboration: "I hope that I can set the record straight at that point by saying that the industry's position is that we would like to ensure that Government does follow up on the results coming out of the Howard Davies review. The bottom line for us is that we need more aviation capacity in the United Kingdom and we would hope that the results of the review will point to where that capacity should be."[74]

51. An inquiry as broadly drawn as ours cannot consider the relative merits of the cases put forward by Heathrow and Gatwick. We do believe, though, that the Government should respond quickly and decisively to the Howard Davies review once it has reached its conclusions.

52. More immediately still, use could be made of spare capacity at regional airports. VisitBritain told us: "New routes between the UK and overseas regional airports must be encouraged in order to make the best use of airport capacity to support tourism growth in the short term. This support is best targeted on the demand-side, as runway capacity exists and the DfT regional airports fund will support some of the start-up costs associated with new air routes."[75] James Berresford of VisitEngland said: "from an international perspective, we need to sweat our regional airports much more effectively than we do. Heathrow is at about 98% capacity at the moment, but there is no other regional airport at 50% capacity. From an England perspective, we need to be using the likes of Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol and so on for maybe second and third-time visitors into the country."[76]

53. Bristol Airport told us: "A study by York Aviation for a consortium of regional airports, including Bristol, demonstrates that an APD [Air Passenger Duty] 'holiday' would bring forward in time development of new long-haul routes from regional airports by effectively enlarging the size of the market, boosting load factors and increasing yields."[77] The Airport suggests: "A stronger focus on marketing regional airports as convenient gateways for inbound visitors would support this objective, with resulting benefits to the visitor economy outside London."[78] Darren Caplan of the Airport Operators Association told us: "A cut in APD should be a cut all over the UK."[79] We consider the case for reductions in Air Passenger Duty later in this report.

54. Making more use of regional airports would be a useful way of increasing visitor numbers in the short term. Achieving such an increase in traffic will depend on a number of factors. The Airport Operators Association reminded us: "Ultimately, it is airlines that determine which routes are flown and therefore overall connectivity and this depends on long-term route profitability. However, overall costs, political and regulatory factors play a major role in determining the attractiveness of starting and sustaining routes."[80] Darren Caplan of the Association also referred to a Department for Transport forecast that passenger numbers would roughly double by 2050: "They were saying that airports in the South East would be full up by 2030 and airports outside the South East would start filling up from 2040, so that includes Birmingham, Bristol and East Midlands and Manchester. It is not just a South East issue on capacity. It is something that you have to look at across the board."[81]

55. The Government should review what more can be done to promote regional airports, both as a means of making more use of existing capacity and in terms of encouraging more visitors to the regions.

60 VisitBritain (TOU0055), para 3.7 Back

61 Brazil, Russia, India and China Back

62 Q 17 Back

63 Tourism Alliance (TOU0031), para 4.6 Back

64 Q 262 Back

65 UKinbound (TOU0022), para 3.5 Back

66 UKinbound (TOU0022), para 3.5 Back

67 ABTA (TOU0011), para 31 Back

68 ABTA (TOU0011), para 31 Back

69 Q 13 Back

70 British Destinations (TOU0092), para 10.3 Back

71 Airport Operators Association (TOU0045) Back