UK Visa Regime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

UK Visa Regime - Essay Example reign tourists, the number of tourists originating from Europe was much higher when compared to the tourists coming from both the United States of America and Canada who make up only 3.5 million, while tourists from Europe total up to more than twenty one million. With reference to the writings by Lickorish and Middleton (2013), it is stated that domestic tourism is a major component of the United Kingdom’s tourism sector and it contributes the highest amount in terms of total revenue earned by the sector, the contribution by this sector stands at more than GBP 21 billion. The four top regions for domestic tourism include West Midlands, East of England, East of Midlands, and London. The peak of domestic tourism is usually during the summer periods, bank holidays, and in specific, the month of August is the busiest in terms of domestic tourism (Lickorish and Middleton, 2013). Other statistics about the tourism sector in the UK is that on average tourists spend GBP 580 per visit and the average duration of stay for each visitor is usually seven nights. Majority of the visitors come to UK for leisure and business purposes while a small number come for further their studies in the UK. Thirdly, majority of the tourists spend most on transport services, accommodation, and food and beverage services (Lickorish and Middleton, 2013). In regards to the tourists’ attraction sites, it is noted by Cook et al. (2009) that the tower of London is the most popular attraction site in the UK with visitors ranging between 2.5 and 2 million each year. Other attraction sites in the UK include amusement parks, Anglo-Saxon sites, aquariums, galleries, art museums, beaches, casinos, castles, and festivals that are usually held in the country, which attract a huge number of audiences both... According to Schengen Visa Services ( 2013), the UK’s tourism visa requirements and policies are complicated to a greater extent than its key rival in the international tourism industry. For example, despite the fact that the UK is a key member of the European Union, the UK operates only in the Common Travel Area alongside Ireland instead of the Schengen area where the majority of the majority of the European Union member countries operate. This, therefore, means that visitors from other countries apart from Ireland, which also operates in the Common Travel Area have to comply with some few UK’s stringent visa requirements before gaining access into the country such as limited duration of stay within the country. Because of the exclusion from operating within the Schengen area, the UK tourism sector fails to attract an additional number of tourists from the other EU member countries, who would have easily toured the country if there were giving the common access that is only shared with Ireland. However, it is important to note that the UK has exempted visitors from a few selected countries other than the EU member countries from its stringent Visa requirements but these exemptions only apply to visitors who intended to visit the country for a limited period of time i.e. six to nine months. Therefore, this explains why the majority of the UK’s tourists are largely drawn from the EU member countries as they are exempted to a greater extent the stringent visa requirements.