Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport praises UKCVA success and welcomes new Chinese Visitor Working Group at UKCVA event – March 2018

New Chinese Visitor Working Group launched to build on success as Chinese visitor numbers rise by 152% in five years

Tourism is a vital part of the UK-China relationship and the work of the UK China Visitor Alliance had helped to fuel a remarkable growth in Chinese visitor numbers, giving a considerable boost to the UK economy.

That was the message from Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), as he addressed business and tourism leaders in London’s Hippodrome Casino.

The event, organised by UK China Visitor Alliance and Conservative Friends of the Chinese, heard from UKCVA Chairman, Brian Bickell, that UK visitor visas issued in China had grown from just 210,000 in 2012 to over 530,000 in 2017, a 152% increase and out-performing growth in the Schengen area.

Jacques Stern, Chief Executive of Global Blue, told the audience that tax free shopping sales to Chinese visitors had risen by 26% in 2016 and 32% in 2017.  This compared with a drop of 21% in the Eurozone in 2016 and a rise of just 5% in 2017.

Global Blue also revealed that the UK was now the country attracting the third highest amount of Chinese spending, equal to Italy on 11% and just behind France on 15%.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Chairman of the Conservative Friends of the Chinese, stressed the importance of Chinese visitors to the whole of the UK.

Minister Zhu Qui, Deputy Head of Mission at the Chinese Embassy, predicted strong growth in Chinese visitor numbers and called for a joint UK/China year of tourism promotion.

To build on this success UK China Visitor Alliance announced the launch of a new Chinese Visitor Working Group in partnership with Visit Britain.  This group will bring together Visit Britain, the DCMS, the Home Office, London & Partners and business interests including the Tourism Alliance, UKinbound, International Airlines Group and Heathrow Airport, to take a holistic approach to practical initiatives to attract even more Chinese visitors from key segments of the market.

Later this week the UK China Visitor Alliance will be presenting its successes and future plans to the All Party Parliamentary Group for China.

You can read the UKCVA press release about the event here

You can see Jacques Stern’s presentation on Chinese visitor spending here

You can see the proposal for the Chinese Visitor Working Group here

UK China Visitor Alliance needs new members to help fund and promote our campaign.  If your business benefits from increasing Chinese visitor numbers, then you should join UKCVA and play a part in our success.  Please reply to this email for more details.