The head of the UK's national tourism agency says more will be done to improve the respective tourism experiences for British and Chinese travelers, amid expectations of increased exchanges between the two sides after China recently introduced a visa-waiver for British passport holders.
Ties between the two countries were given a boost by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's official visit to China in January, with China announcing it would introduce a unilateral visa-free policy for UK nationals in order to further facilitate cross-border travel.
The measure, which officially came into force on Feb 17, allows eligible British passport holders to stay for up to 30 days for various purposes, and will be effective through December 31.
Patricia Yates, the CEO of VisitBritain, welcomed China's visa-free policy and said more research will be undertaken among tour and travel groups in order to better cater to the needs and interests of travelers.
"I think the relaxing of the visas is a very good step to take and then it's telling the story of where people should go and what is the real driver for travel. So, we're doing a lot of research on what Chinese visitors look for and where they will find that in Britain. And I'm very open to talking to Chinese authorities about how they can do similar research and really look at what British travelers are interested in and signpost them to where they'll find that in China," she said in an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Yates also said the two sides will make full use of bilateral work mechanisms to solve common problems facing their respective tourism sectors.
"We used to have a people-to-people dialogue and take small delegations from Britain to work with delegations in China and talk about common problems and how we're looking at solving them. I think we're all looking to get people outside our capital cities and to spread the economic benefit of tourism more broadly across the country, and also develop that pride in place that people get by hosting international visitors. So, those are discussions that are really helpful to have between both countries," she said.
Yates also highlighted the agency's projections of increased Chinese visitor numbers in the coming months, and outlined ongoing efforts to welcome more tourists from China in the years ahead.
"For us, we know that tourism numbers to Britain, we're predicting, will be quite strong this year. So, China [will be] back in our top 10 markets worth about 1.2 billion pounds to the economy, but that's really the start of a period of growth working through to 2030 with [a market value of] 2.2 billion pounds, a million Chinese visitors coming to Britain. So, I think to see that growth coming back from China is really important that Chinese visitors feel welcome and realize that Britain welcomes them," she said.
UK, China to work to create better tourism experiences for visitors: VisitBritain CEO
