Chinese travelers restricted by the requirements of UK visas

United Kingdom, 11th February: The UK is expecting arrival of huge number of visitors from China in the coming years, VisitBritain, a national tourism organization has revealed.

Chinese are likely to go on a shopping spree in London shops during holiday breaks of the lunar year. Many affluent Chinese hop for London retail shops which are considered to be cheaper for buying luxury brands like Vivienne Westwood, Burberry, Mulberry and Ben Sherman.

According to the Chinese tourists in the UK, the luxury brands being sold by the UK shops at almost half the prices in China is what attracts them to such shops. According to Wang Yanming, a published from Beijing and an affluent visitor to the UK, the nation holds special place for being a beautiful nation.

Yanming said that she bought everything from clothes, chocolates, souvenirs, bags and shoes and spent a total of £2,816(equivalent to 20,000 yuan) while spent another 15,000 yuan on buying designer handbags.

However, many of affluent Chinese feel deterred by the requirements of UK visas and hence, feel compelled to change their travelling plans by visiting Europe. This is resulting in a big loss for the UK retailers.

According to official figures released by the New West Company, a representative body of around 600 retailers in London, UK retailers are losing £165m annually from Chinese travelers due to strict UK visa rules.

The number of Chinese tourists expected to visit the UK is expecting to increase twice by the year 2014 along with nearly 130,000 additional visits to the UK by Chinese.

Chinese and Hong Kong nationals comprise nearly 30 percent of the shoppers for the luxury goods in the UK followed by citizens of Russia, Arab and Japan respectively.

Tougher UK visa rules are forcing more and more Chinese citizens to visit mainland Europe rather than the UK.

Every year, the number of Chinese coming to the UK for travel is estimated to be 110,000 while the number of those opting to visit other European nations is stated to be two million, revealed the New West Company.

Chinese are required to possess a separate UK visa for visiting the nation which is not only troublesome but also expensive.