After the Brexit, the UK could become the new destination of Chinese tourists
Why going to the UK now?
More Chinese Tourists to the UK
After the Brexit vote, the economy of the country is not at its best. As we all heard, there is a volatile stock market and the pound is plunging.
The good point here is that travelling to this region is set to become much cheaper. The numbers of Chinese tourists is expected to grow rapidly this year. For example, the travel agency Shanghai Spring Tour have now totally booked its tour packages to Britain for the summer and the online booking website Ctrip has also seen a jump in its reservations to the UK.
So it is time for travel agencies to seek for Chinese travellers!
Good prices for shopping
The travel priority for Chinese is to have the best prices of luxury goods and avoid mainland tariffs. That is why, Chinese tourists have been known to follow currency fluctuations to get good deals for their shopping. Actually, when the Japanese yen was weak, Chinese went to Japan and spent a lot in cheaper premium Japanese brands. As the middle class in China is increasing, people are able to spend more for themselves and love above all luxury brands which show others their wealth. Europe has always been famous for the luxury sector and so is attractive for Chinese tourists. With its renowned brands or its shopping malls Fortun & Mason or Liberty, London and the UK are famous and appeal to Chine shopping lovers.
The problem regarding the customs
Participants traveling to both the UK and European countries would have to declare the tax-free products bought in the UK to Europe.
If a tourist is intending to do a lot of shopping, he would have better to visit either the UK or the EU, otherwise he will risk to pay VAT and customs duties. For these reasons, British travel agencies should promote tours in their own country only and not in Europe to facilitate the life of their travellers.
Which visa to travel in UK?
The UK has been working to attract more Chinese tourists, even without being in the Schengen Area.
Chinese could benefit from a two-year multi-entry visa and the country engaged in a partnership with Belgium that allowed Chinese visitors with a Belgium-issued Schengen visa to access the UK. Now this visa won’t exist anymore as the UK is not part of the UE.
Further readings:
10 articles about tourism in China
Facebook new wawe of Chinese tourists
Very good news. Chinese tourist will forward travel more to UK. From there, they are more than welcome to Iceland as we have free custom trading between countries. So book with us and let us help to find desired products.