Chinese tour operators 'striking Britain from itineraries' over visa rules Darren Caplan, AOA chief executive, said: "A key cause of this unwillingness to travel here is our visa system, which people view as expensive, cumbersome and bureaucratic. Yet we know that the average Chinese spends heavily when they do visit the UK, on average £1,600 per head, at least twice that of any other visiting nation. This represents a huge source of potential revenue for the Treasury, and a shot in the arm to the UK airports sector and travel industry. He said that liberalising the visa system could see billions of pounds a year extra flow into the British economy. Sarah Branquinho, UK Travel Retail Forum chair, said: "Chinese visitors who overcome the hurdles to obtain a UK visa are inclined to spend substantially in our airport shops. This is evidence that, as well as being highly motivated to visit Britain, many Chinese are both affluent and discerning, displaying an appetite for brands and products with heritage and tradition - precisely those brands and products that our airport retailers are able to offer them. Accordingly, any increase in the number of visits the Chinese make to Britain would benefit this vibrant retail sector and the employment it generates. Retail spend at UK airport outlets accounts for a third of non-aeronautical revenue. The joint letter said: "This substantial contribution is vital to the ability of our airports to support their infrastructure investment and to maintain competitive aeronautical fees in the face of growing European competition." It added: "The only beneficiaries of our continuing reluctance to implement appropriate improvements to the system are our overseas competitors." The Home Office said it had already made changes to improve the UK's visa system for Chinese nationals and was committed to making the system flexible. Some 94pc of applications for visas from Chinese nationals are successful, and in 2011, the UKBA processed 283,000 Chinese visas, a spokesman said. He added that in the year to September 2012, the number of Chinese visitors to the UK rose by 7pc.