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The cost of a travel permit for EU and US nationals to enter the UK is to rise from £10 to £16, the government has announced, sparking warnings that the cost will hurt tourism.
Starting with the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) scheme It has been implemented this monthMany visitors to the UK who do not need a visa must apply for a digital permit to travel to the country.
Currently visitors pay £10 for a permit which is valid for two years and allows them to make multiple trips.
But the Home Office said the price of a license would rise from £10 to £16 to help “reduce the immigration and border system’s reliance on taxpayer funding”. The Department of State has not set a date for the changes, which it says will raise an extra £269mn a year.
Tour groups and Airlines They criticized the changes as making the cost of visiting the UK more uncompetitive, given the EU’s proposed travel permit scheme, which would introduce a €7 fee for visitors who do not need a visa.
Richard Tomer, executive director of the Tourism Alliance trade association, said the decision to increase the charges was “exciting”.
“This is particularly striking for our European visitors, as they are required to apply for prior permission to travel to the UK for the first time,” he said.
Tourism earns 74 billion pounds a year for England, and ministers in 2015 In November, they announced plans to increase the number of visitors by a third to nearly 50 million by 2030.
But Tomer said the target would be missed if the government “continues to treat tourists simply as cash cows”.
UK Airlines trade group chief executive Tim Alderslade said the changes were “regrettable” but welcomed the Home Office’s decision to exempt travelers visiting UK airports but not entering the country.
Heathrow’s decision to charge passengers has warned that its position as Europe’s leading hub airport is under threat.
Visitors from more than 50 countries, including the US, Australia and Canada, have had to apply for one of the permits to enter the UK since the scheme, loosely modeled on the US Esta programme, was introduced.
Although Irish citizens are exempt, the list will expand to include EU citizens on April 2.
In the year At the end of 2020, four years after the referendum, citizens of the European Union and the United Kingdom were caught at border crossings after a conflict-free passage of the implementation of the Brexit agreement was lost.
Visitors already face strict passport checks at the UK and EU borders, which has caused disruptions at Eurostar and Channel ports.
UK citizens will also be caught up in the EU’s new biometric border checks, due to be rolled out later this year but repeatedly delayed. A separate EU visa waiver program similar to the UK ETA is due to be rolled out in 2025.
Increasing the cost of immigration to the UK will also increase the cost of other services, including citizenship as a British citizen.
