Electronic Travel Authorisations Tourism 2025-02-27
2025-02-27
TAGS
Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Partial Answer
▸
Context
The Home Office’s impact assessment indicates a potential reduction in the number of tourists and a loss of £734.7 million over five years due to increased ETAs.
Our travel, tourism and hospitality sectors continue to face huge challenges, yet the Home Office’s own impact assessment of the 60% increase in electronic travel authorisation fees concluded that it could reduce the number of tourists wanting to come here and result in a loss of revenue to the wider economy of £734.7 million over five years. If the Government are to succeed in achieving the inbound tourism target of 50 million by 2030, would an agreement between the EU and the UK to facilitate easier travel not be a good place to start?
We are absolutely determined to reach our goal of 50 million international visitors to the UK by 2030. We have produced a video entitled 'Starring GREAT Britain', which includes film clips from James Bond, Tom Cruise and many others, to promote tourism. We will work with the Home Office to mitigate any issues that may arise.
▸
Assessment & feedback
Specific agreement between EU and UK was not directly addressed; instead minister focused on promoting tourism generally.
Changed Subject
General Promotion
Response accuracy
Q2
Partial Answer
▸
Context
Tourism businesses are concerned about the impact of rising national insurance thresholds, which could affect how many workers they can employ.
According to VisitBritain, the estimated value of inbound tourism in 2024 will be in the region of £31.5 billion. Tourism businesses that rely on seasonal tourism express great concern about the reduction in national insurance thresholds and the rise in employer national insurance contributions, which mean many more workers may fall into a damaging tax trap, potentially reducing employment numbers. Does the Minister have an impact assessment of the effect of those NI rises, and what does it say about how many jobs will be created or lost as a result?
One of the problems with the Conservatives is that they want us to endlessly spend more money on things but do not find the funding. It is crucial to extend the tourist season in the UK and ensure international visitors explore beyond London and the south-east to other parts of the country. We hope this will be incorporated into our national tourism strategy this autumn, which will be the first of its kind for the UK.
▸
Assessment & feedback
Impact assessment was not provided; instead focus shifted towards general promotion and criticism of opposition's fiscal policies.
Criticised Opposition
Changed Subject
Response accuracy