Harrods Calls on UK to Ease Visa Policy for Chinese Tourists

LONDON, United Kingdom — The U.K. requires a more progressive visa policy for Chinese nationals or it will continue to lose more than a billion pounds of revenue annually to countries such as France, according to Michael Ward, managing director of luxury department-store chain Harrods Ltd.

Britain needs to “find some way of making it easier for the Chinese to visit us on a regular basis,” Ward said in an interview late Thursday.

The U.K. is losing 1.2 billion pounds ($1.85 billion) of revenue a year to other European countries because of the current visa system, which is “overly onerous” on Chinese visitors, according to a study last month conducted for British luxury lobby Walpole. The report recommended expanding a visa- sharing facility with Belgium to countries such as France and reducing the price of a 10-year visa from the current 7,591 yuan ($1,195) to make it more attractive.

Harrods is “very reliant on the international customer,” Ward said, calling the mix of nationalities at the store “very balanced.” The business climate is "tougher than it was, but we are still seeing growth,” he said.

Ward's comments came the same day that Britain's largest luxury-goods maker Burberry Group Plc reported its weakest revenue growth in three years amid softening demand from Chinese shoppers. First-half sales in the U.K. were only "marginally positive," while growth from Chinese customers was "very significantly higher" in continental Europe, Burberry said, attributing the differential to a strong pound and weak euro compared with the yuan.

“It’s a myth at the moment that the Chinese are not shopping,” Ward said, citing industry figures showing 74 percent growth in the number of Chinese shoppers in Europe, compared with 4 percent in the U.K. “We’d really like some of that.”

By Andrew Roberts, Caroline Hyde, with assistance from Sam Chambers. Editors: Matthew Boyle, Paul Jarvis, Thomas Mulier.