UK to ease Chinese tourist VISA rules

Good news for Chinese travelers interested in visiting the United Kingdom. In hopes of attracting more tourists, the UK government is about to announce a new rule that will ease visa application procedures for Chinese citizens.

According to the British media, Chinese tourists will soon only have to submit one application to receive both the UK and Schengen visas. The Schengen allows tourists to travel across 26 countries in continental Europe, but does not include the UK.

The new rule will save Chinese tourists time and money.

Patricia Yates, Manager of British Tourist Authority, said, "There already are many improvement of visa application for Chinese tourists.....There's no doubt that China is a very important market for us, we welcome more Chinese tourists to come to visit the UK."

According to the British Tourist Authority, only 150 thousand Chinese tourists visited the UK last year. Meanwhile, 1.2 million tourists visited neighboring France. Many tourists have to skip the UK because it's excluded in the Schengen visa and requires a separate visa application.

UK's tourism and business industries have been calling for changes to visa rules for a long time.

Chris Bevan, Sales Manager of Arsenal Football Club, said, "We are glad that the government has realized the reality. The ease of visa policy will obviously attract more Chinese. We are hoping to see more Chinese tourists in the future. "

The UK government says China is one the of most important markets for the country's tourism industry. It will continue to make efforts to attract Chinese visitors, with the goal of hosting half a million tourists by 2015.