数据显示，英国为吸引中国游客所做的努力，导致今年4月至6月赴英旅游的中国游客同比增长33%。
英国国家统计局(Office for National Statistics)表示，今年第二季度，6.4万名中国内地人走完签证申请流程来到英国。
该局表示，尽管中国游客人数有所增长而且人民币相对英镑升值，但中国游客在英支出下降了6%，至1.51亿英镑。
旅游业高管们多年来将目标对准中国游客，他们平均每人支出2688英镑（是大多数游客的4倍），并且在英国逗留10个晚上——赴英游客平均逗留时间是6个晚上。
去年，英国政府斥资160万英镑，发起了一场为一些英国地标征集中文名的活动。例如，Sherwood Forest被命名为“侠盗林”，Cerne Abbas Giant则被称为“白色大裸奔”。
今年，英国财政大臣乔治·奥斯本(George Osborne)拨出130万英镑，启动一项邀请中国游客在线分享旅行照片的活动，活动时间从10月26日持续至圣诞节。英国政府希望会有1亿中国人关注活动结果。
各种各样的活动取得了一定成功。过去5年里，中国游客在英年支出额增长了326%，如今达到4.975亿英镑。
但在中国旅游市场蓬勃发展的背景下，上述数字不算大。今年中国出境游人次预计超过1.2亿。中国游客的前五大出境游目的地都是亚洲国家和地区，法国、意大利、瑞士和德国则跻身前十大目的地之列。
相比之下，英国国家统计局的数据显示，今年第二季度，赴英旅游的游客有740万来自欧洲大陆，有近100万来自美国，15.2万来自印度。
世界旅游业理事会(WTTC)总裁戴维·斯科斯尔(David Scowsill)表示：“英国应对中国商务和休闲游客予以重视。想象一下，如果英国政府更积极地简化中国游客的签证流程，将会对英国零售和酒店业以及整个经济产生多大的推动。”
斯科斯尔表示，英国没有加入欧盟的申根区，这种劣势可以通过提供在线签证流程、使游客无需在领事馆外排长队来抵消。英国也可以简化签证流程，在申根签证申请中包含对英国签证的申请。
他说：“我们督促英国政府更全面地考虑这个问题。在旅游市场排名中，中国人仅将英国排在第34位，令人大跌眼镜。”
其他问题包括禁止中国留学生在英国工作的严格规定，以及缺少长期签证。美国将10年期签证作为颁给中国游客的标准签证，而英国的是1年期签证。（中国进出口网）
UK efforts to attract Chinese tourists resulted in a 33 per cent year-on-year rise in arrivals between April and June, according to the latest data.
The Office for National Statistics said 64,000 mainland Chinese had made their way through the visa application process to come to the UK in the second quarter.
In spite of the increase and the renminbi strengthening against the pound, their spending fell by only 6 per cent to 151m pounds, said the ONS.
Tourism chiefs have spent years targeting tourists from China who spend an average of 2,688 pounds each — four times more than most visitors — and stay for 10 nights compared with an average of six.
Last year, the government spent 1.6m pounds on a campaign to give Mandarin names to some UK landmarks. Sherwood Forest, for example, became "Forest of Chivalrous Thieves" and the Cerne Abbas Giant the "Big White Streaker".
This year, George Osborne, the chancellor, launched a 1.3m pounds campaign from October 26 to Christmas that will ask Chinese tourists to share pictures of their visit online. The government hopes that 100m Chinese will see the results.
The various campaigns have had some success. During the past five years, the amount spent each year by Chinese visitors has increased by 326 per cent to now stand at 497.5m pounds.
But the number is low in the context of the boom in China's travel market. More than 120m Chinese are expected to travel abroad this year and while Asian countries are the top five destinations, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany round out the top 10.
By comparison, the UK received 7.4m visitors from continental Europe, nearly 1m from the US and 152,000 from India in the second quarter, according to the ONS.
David Scowsill, president of the World Travel and Tourism Council, the trade body, said: "Chinese business and leisure travellers should be important to the UK. Imagine the boost to the UK retail and hospitality industries and the economy in general if the UK government was more progressive with visa processing for Chinese consumers."
The disadvantage of being outside the EU's Schengen single-visa bloc could be offset by offering an online visa process, sparing visitors long queues at consular offices, said Mr Scowsill. The UK could also allow a simplified process that included a UK visa on a Schengen application.
"We urge the government to think much more radically about this issue. It is extraordinary that the Chinese rank only number 34 among the top markets in terms of visits to the UK," he said.
Other issues include strict rules barring Chinese students in the UK from staying on to work, and the lack of a long-term visas. The US has introduced 10-year visas as standard for Chinese visitors, wheras the UK's default is one year.
