Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Electronic Travel Authorisations: Tourism

Thursday 27 February 2025 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Liz Jarvis raised concerns about the impact of increased electronic travel authorisation fees on tourism.
  • The government aims to attract 50 million international visitors to the UK by 2030 and has produced a promotional video.
  • Tourism businesses are worried about the reduction in national insurance thresholds and the rise in employer national insurance contributions.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Liz Jarvis Lib Dem Eastleigh
Immigration Business & Trade
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.

Question

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?

Answer from The Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism (Chris Bryant)

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.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific agreement between EU and UK was not directly addressed; instead minister focused on promoting tourism generally.

How: Changed Subject, General Promotion

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Q2 Saqib Bhatti Con Meriden and Solihull East
Economy Employment
Context

Tourism businesses are concerned about the impact of rising national insurance thresholds, which could affect how many workers they can employ.

Question

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?

Answer from The Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism (Chris Bryant)

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.

Not addressed: Impact assessment was not provided; instead focus shifted towards general promotion and criticism of opposition's fiscal policies.

How: Criticised Opposition, Changed Subject

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