Simon Thomas, owner of the Hippodrome Casino in London, has told the Daily Telegraph that the UK was missing out on “£4m to £5m a day in lost revenues” through the country’s “colonial” visa rules.
He was specifically citing visiting Chinese people in his comments. The Hippodrome CEO pointed out that Chinese tourists can “fill out a relatively simple form to get a Schengen visa for 26 European countries, yet have an incredibly complicated process to get a UK visa – so many of them don’t bother.”
He added: “It is a competitive world and we need to compete. The UK had 180,000 Chinese tourists last year – France had well over a million. I believe the UK government has an outdated view of Chinese visitors, perhaps rooted in colonial times. They wrongly fear many Chinese will overstay. We have to respect our borders but such unfounded fears are harming the UK economy.”
The Daily Telegraph has been running a campaign to encourage the British government to simplify visa rules for Chinese visitors.
