中國年度赴英遊客人數下滑
Business travel from mainland China to the UK dropped nearly 13 per cent last year, despite efforts by the government to welcome Chinese investment and simplify visas.
儘管英國政府在歡迎中國投資和簡化簽證程序方面付出了一些努力，但中國內地人士赴英商務旅行人次去年仍減少了近13%。The Office for National Statistics said there had been 48,000 business trips to the UK by Chinese in 2014, down from 55,000 the previous year.
英國國家統計局(Office for National Statistics)表示，2014年中國赴英商旅人次爲4.8萬，而上一年爲5.5萬。
“Chinese visitors to the UK are falling. The government’s plans to increase numbers have failed miserably. Far from being a record, these numbers show the UK continues to miss out on the jobs and growth that Chinese visitors could bring to these shores,” said Willie Walsh, chief executive of International Airlines Group. “While the US has just introduced 10-year visas, the UK is tinkering with changes to a system that is not fit for purpose. What we need is a radical overhaul.”
“中國赴英遊客在減少。政府提高這些數字的計劃遭遇慘敗。這些數字不僅遠遠沒有創下記錄，而且還表明英國仍在錯失中國遊客可能給英國帶來的工作和增長機會，”國際航空集團(IAG)首席執行官威利•沃爾什(Willie Walsh)表示，“美國剛剛推出了10年期簽證，而英國還在對一套已經不適用的制度作小修小補。我們需要的是大刀闊斧的改革。”
However, Stephen Phillips, chief executive of the China-Britain Business Council, said: “That does not make sense to me based on what I know. What I hear is that the number of visas approved is rising. The only thing I can think of is that government delegations have fallen off a bit because of the clampdown on spending.”
然而，英中貿易協會(CBBC)總裁傅仲森(Stephen Phillips)表示：“根據我所知道的情況，沒道理出現這樣的結果。我聽說，獲批簽證的數量在不斷上升。我能想到的唯一解釋是，出於整頓開支的緣故，中國政府代表團的數量有些許減少。”There was an even steeper 35 per cent fall in the number of Chinese coming to visit friends and family but an 18 per cent rise in the number of Chinese holiday makers, who made 86,000 trips.
赴英走親訪友的中國遊客人次減少得更多，降幅爲35%；不過，赴英度假的中國遊客人次增加了18%，達到8.6萬。VisitBritain, the government’s tourism agency, said this was a vindication of the £1.6m marketing campaign that began last year. “VisitBritain has launched a number of high-profile, consumer-facing campaigns in China recently. We are optimistic that there will be a further increase in Chinese holiday visits in 2015 and beyond,” it said.
英國旅遊局(VisitBritain)表示，這是去年啓動的一項耗資160萬英鎊的營銷活動取得的成果。該機構表示：“英國旅遊局最近在華推出了一些面向消費者的高調活動。我們相信，2015年及以後赴英度假的中國遊客人次還會進一步上升。”Overall, the number of Chinese visitors fell 4,000 to 233,000, even as the UK enjoyed a record year, with a 5.2 per cent rise to 34.4m foreign visitors. It was the first time in five years numbers from China, which have grown an average of 13.4 per cent a year, have fallen.
總體上看，儘管英國今年接待的外國遊客人次增長了5.2%，至3440萬，創下歷史紀錄，但中國遊客人次減少了4000，至23.3萬。這是5年來中國遊客人次首次出現下滑。在這5年裏，赴英中國遊客人次年均增長13.4%。Prime Minister David Cameron has repeatedly pledged to open Britain to Chinese investment. The government’s target is to attract 650,000 Chinese visitors, spending £1.1bn, by 2020.
英國首相戴維•卡梅倫(David Cameron)多次承諾要向中國的投資敞開英國的大門。英國政府的目標是，到2020年時，吸引65萬人次的中國遊客，並使其在英支出達到11億英鎊。According to the UK China Visa Alliance, about 90 per cent of Chinese tour groups visiting Europe omit Britain – which is not part of the EU’s visa-free Schengen zone – resulting in £1.2bn of lost revenue each year. In an effort to streamline the process, Theresa May, home secretary, announced last summer that Chinese tourists would be permitted to use the same website to apply for both a British and a Schengen visa.
英國對華簽證聯盟(UK China Visa Alliance)數據顯示，在來歐洲觀光的中國旅遊團當中，約有90%略過了英國——英國不在歐盟免籤申根區內——這使英國每年損失12億英鎊收入。爲了簡化程序，英國內政大臣特雷莎•梅(Theresa May)去年夏天宣佈，中國遊客將可使用同一網站申請英國簽證和申根簽證。But this only partially solved the problem, as Chinese applicants are still required to visit a separate UK visa centre to process their biometric data.
但這只是部分地解決了問題，中國申請者還是需要到一個單獨的英國簽證中心錄入生物特徵識別信息。And business groups were dismayed at the lack of any new dedicated measures to help corporate travellers.
而商業團體感到失望的是，英國政府未出臺任何新的專門措施幫助商務旅客。The UK has included China in a fast-track visa scheme that allows wealthy businessmen to pay for a 24-hour turnround in their application.
英國已將中國納入“快籤”體系，富有的商務人士在申請時可付錢在24小時內走完整個審批流程。
