The government’s proposal to raise tourist visa fees is set to further strain Britain’s already struggling pub industry.
Industry specialists are concerned that hiking visa fees from £475 to £506 could significantly reduce the number of tourists visiting the UK, thereby affecting the overall spending by visitors.
Experts suggest that the combined effect of higher visa fees and increased electronic travel authorisation (ETA) costs might strip over £1.5 billion from tourist spending, heavily impacting pubs and the wider hospitality sector.
Kate Nicholls, CEO of UK Hospitality, expressed to the Telegraph, “Inbound tourism is as close as we get to free money for the economy.”
“Tourism is our second-largest services export earner. Foreign visitors spend more enjoying meals and drinks at our pubs and restaurants than the total of our food and drink exports. Engaging with the local scene is a major draw, fostering job growth and investment across the UK,” she added.
These new measures come at a time when pubs are already grappling with rising expenses imposed by the Labour government.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves is under pressure to lower the cost of business rates for pubs and other businesses in the hospitality sector.
In recent months a number of wealthy individuals have begun buying up pubs which are valued by their communities, but which are now facing the threat of closure.
Kate Nicholls, the head of UK Hospitality said: ‘Inbound tourism is the closest thing you can get to free money in the economy. It is our second largest services export earner.’
Industry experts fear plans to increase the cost of visas from £475 to £506 will have a dramatic impact on the number of people visiting Britain, which in turn will impact on overall tourist spend
Lady Loretta Rothschild, wife of financier Lord Nathaniel Rothschild (pictured together), is the latest to take over her local, buying The Seven Stars in Bottlesford in Wiltshire, two hours outside London
Graham Thomson, former licensee of the Seven Stars (pictured), said the pub had been ‘on its knees’ when he sold it
Lady Loretta Rothschild, wife of financier Lord Nathaniel Rothschild, is the latest to take over her local, buying The Seven Stars in Bottlesford in Wiltshire, two hours outside London.
Graham Thomson, former licensee of the Seven Stars, said the pub had been ‘on its knees’ when he sold it.
He added that Rothschild’s purchase reflected the trend where ‘the money keeps going away from the common man’ but said he was happy the pub would survive.
A spokesperson for Lord Rothschild, who has been teetotal for 27 years, said: ‘The Rothschild family have a deep affinity with the local area and farm 3,500 acres near to where the Seven Stars inn is situated.
‘The pub is a critical part of the local community, and it was on Lady Rothschild’s initiative that the decision was taken to save it.’
Meanwhile, financier Michel de Carvalho and his wife Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken of the brewing dynasty, who is worth $17.2bn, own the 19th century Woolpack Inn in Totford, Hampshire.
De Carvalho said they had ‘100 per cent’ bought the pub to keep it in the community and did not want to turn it into ‘some elegant gastropub where the locals feel excluded’.
He added: ‘A lot of friends of mine have bought a pub as an ego-trip so that they can walk in and say: “I’m the owner of the pub,” and everyone says, “Oh, thank you, milord.’ That is absolutely not what we do.’
