UK and China agree new People to People dialogue
Jeremy Hunt and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao discuss closer cultural ties on eve of key summit.
yesterday hosted a visit with Premier Wen to historic Stratford-upon-Avon, ahead of today鈥檚 , which has focused on cementing the two countries as partners for growth as well as building links between the British and Chinese peoples.聽
As part of the summit, led by the Prime Minister, the UK and China have agreed a new 鈥楶eople to People鈥� dialogue on broad cultural issues, with annual Ministerial meetings to be held alternately in the UK and China.聽 Jeremy Hunt will act as the UK Government鈥檚 representative for this new high-level dialogue, which will see us step up our work with the Chinese in areas such as education provision, scientific research and innovation and culture, all of which help generate revenue in the UK from the Chinese market.
Encouraging UK-Chinese tourism
The Culture Secretary used the visit to Shakespeare鈥檚 birthplace to highlight the great cultural and sporting attractions and聽 on offer to Chinese visitors to Britain.聽
To boost our important tourism industry, in the last year, the Government has:聽
- , featuring British stars like Jamie Oliver, Judi Dench and Dev Patel, to attract overseas visitors from key emerging markets like China
- made getting visas for Chinese tourists easier by for the first time
- announced the , potentially the biggest ever celebration of British arts held in China, which includes exhibitions, concerts and performances across the country
Chinese tourism in the UK - top facts
1.聽The UK is in the top 3 most popular European destinations for Chinese visitors.聽
2.聽Over the last two years there has been a significant increase in demand for visit visas from Chinese nationals.聽 In 2010 we issued over 150,000 visit visas in China, 42% more than in 2009.聽
3.聽In 2010 the number of Chinese tourists visiting the UK on group tours doubled and the number of general visit applications increased by 65%, and a similar rise is expected this year.聽Even in our low season, from January to March 2011, we issued over 63,000 visit visas to Chinese nationals, a 32% increase on the same period in 2010.聽
4.聽According to forecasts by Tourism Economics there is potential for a 3-fold increase in the number of visits from China to the UK over the decade 2010 to 2020.
5.聽VisitBritain recently announced Alex Hua-Tian, the Chinese Olympic Equestrian, as a goodwill ambassador for British tourism in China.
6.聽Around 30 million people in China watched Prince William鈥檚 wedding 鈥榣ive鈥� in April.
7.聽In Britain, tourism directly contributes 拢52 billion to our GDP, (including the indirect benefit, the total聽is 拢114 billion). It also聽supports 200,000 businesses and nearly 5% of our jobs.