{"id":389155,"date":"2026-01-25T04:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/389155\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T04:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T04:51:09","slug":"treasury-figures-warn-visa-fee-hikes-could-wipe-1-15-bn-off-uk-tourist-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/389155\/","title":{"rendered":"Treasury figures warn visa-fee hikes could wipe \u00a31.15 bn off UK tourist spending"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fresh analysis published on 24 January 2026 by market-intelligence firm IndexBox, and cited by The Telegraph, suggests the Home Office\u2019s plan to raise visa prices may cost Britain\u2019s visitor economy \u00a31.15 billion in lost spending by 2030. Ministers have proposed increasing the standard two-year multiple-entry visit visa from \u00a3475 to \u00a3506 and bumping the new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) fee from \u00a316 to \u00a320. <\/p>\n

Although the individual increases look modest, hospitality leaders warn the timing is disastrous for a sector still nursing post-pandemic debt and high energy costs. UKHospitality chief Kate Nicholls called the move \u201ca deliberate act of economic self-harm,\u201d noting that inbound tourists collectively spend more in restaurants and pubs than the UK exports in food and drink. Luxury retailer Fortnum & Mason added that Britain should be making it cheaper\u2014not dearer\u2014for high-spending visitors to come. <\/p>\n

Travellers from India, China and South Africa\u2014who require visit visas\u2014are price-sensitive segments that tourism boards have been courting aggressively. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, nationals of the United States, Canada, Australia and most EU states, who currently travel visa-free, must pay the ETA from February 2026. <\/p>\n

\"Treasury<\/p>\n

Amid these changing requirements, VisaHQ can streamline the process for both tourists and corporate travellers by handling the paperwork for UK visit visas and the upcoming ETA, keeping applicants up-to-date on fees and documentation, and submitting forms on their behalf; full details are available at https:\/\/www.visahq.com\/united-kingdom\/.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Airlines and tour operators fear that layering new fees onto airfare-inflation and sterling strength will nudge leisure visitors toward mainland Europe, whose Schengen visa costs remain lower. <\/p>\n

The Home Office argues the extra revenue will fund border modernisation and help plug this year\u2019s \u00a34 billion asylum-accommodation bill. Officials also point out that UK visa fees have been frozen since 2022 and remain competitive with comparable destinations after currency adjustment. Nonetheless, the Treasury\u2019s own modelling, obtained by The Telegraph, shows net negative impacts unless the UK meets an ambitious target of 50 million annual visitors by 2030, up from 38 million in 2023. <\/p>\n

Corporate-travel managers should budget for higher compliance costs on short-term assignments and factor the ETA surcharge into project bids involving non-visa nationals. Legal teams are watching parliamentary scrutiny; MPs on the Business and Trade Committee have requested an impact assessment that weighs revenue gains against potential VAT, duty-free and job losses in tourism hot-spots outside London.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresh analysis published on 24 January 2026 by market-intelligence firm IndexBox, and cited by The Telegraph, suggests the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-389155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}