John Lewis director leads China visa campaign Andrew Murphy, retail director at John Lewis, has been named chairman of the UK China Visa Alliance (UKCVA), a coalition of retail and business organisations, whose members include Burberry, Harrods and Mulberry. The coalition has been pressing the Government to make it easier for Chinese nationals to apply for UK visas, amid warnings Britain is losing out on vital tourism spend to rivals in Europe, which are part of the 26-country Schengen visa system. Chinese tourists who want to come to the UK have to apply for a separate visa and have their finger prints taken at a centre in China, while Schengen allows them passage to 26 countries with only one application. Last year, there were 215,000 visits from residents of mainland China to the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics, compared to 2.8m from the US. A report by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation earlier this year showed the Chinese had overtaken the Germans as the world's highest spending tourists, splashing out $102bn (£67bn) on trips abroad. Immigration Minister Mark Harper has categorically ruled out joining Schengen, warning Britain will not compromise the security of its border. However, the UK China Visa Alliance believes more high-spending Chinese visitors could be encouraged to visit Britain if they could submit their UK visa applications at the same time as their Schengen applications. Mr Murphy said: "The Chinese consumer is by far the largest spender among overseas visitors to the UK, and that spend is a vital area of growth if we are to remain globally competitive as a visitor destination. Whilst incremental steps have been taken, the UKCVA believes more must be done by the Government to ensure that the UK attracts its fair share of Chinese visitors, levelling the playing field with other European countries. Last month Yu Ning Ning, the president of China's biggest travel agency, China International Travel Service, warned her company brought fewer than 10,000 tourists to Britain from a total customer base of 3.23m. She said most first-time visitors to Europe want to take in more than one country and it is often too much of a headache for tour operators to organise coaches to UK visa processing centres to have finger prints taken when Schengen offers entry to 26 nations on continental Europe. Mr Harper said earlier this year that he intended to hold discussions with Chinese tour operators to explore ways to make it easier to apply for UK visas.