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The price of travel permits needed by EU and US citizens to enter the UK is to rise from £10 to £16, the government said, prompting warnings that the cost would hurt tourism.
Since the electronic travel authorization (ETA) scheme took effect this monthmany visitors to the UK who do not need a visa must apply for a digital authorization to travel to the country.
Visitors currently pay £10 for a permit which is valid for two years and allows them to make multiple journeys.
But the Home Office said the cost of a permit would rise from £10 to £16 to help “reduce reliance on the immigration system and limit taxpayer funding”. The government department has not set a date for the changes, which it says will raise an extra £269 million a year.
Tourism groups and airlines The changes have been criticized, saying they make the cost of visiting the UK more uncompetitive in light of EU plans to charge all visitors who do not need a visa €7 for the planned travel authorization scheme.
Richard Toomer, executive director of the Tourism Alliance trade association, said the decision to raise the fee was “shocking”.
“This is particularly a kick in the teeth for our European visitors as they will need to apply for advance travel authorization to the UK for the first time,” he said.
Tourism is worth £74bn a year to the UK, and ministers in November announced a target to increase visitor numbers by almost a third to 50 million people a year by 2030.
But Toomer said the target would be missed “if the government continues to see tourists as a cash cow”.
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of trade group Airlines UK, said the changes were “bitterly disappointing” but welcomed the Home Office’s decision to exempt passengers traveling to and from UK airports without enter the country.
Heathrow airport has warned that its position as Europe’s leading hub airport is threatened by a decision to charge for passenger transfers.
Visitors from more than 50 countries including the US, Australia and Canada have had to apply for one of the permits to enter the UK since the start of the scheme, which is not closely modeled on the US Esta programme.
The list will be expanded to include EU nationals on April 2, although Irish citizens will be exempt.
Citizens of the EU and UK are caught in increasing formalities at the border since hassle-free travel is lost with the implementation of the Brexit deal at the end of 2020, four years after the referendum.
Visitors already face strict passport checks at the UK and EU borders, causing disruptions on Eurostar and the Channel ports.
UK citizens will also be caught out by the new EU biometric border checks, which were due to be launched later this year but have been repeatedly delayed. A separate EU visa waiver program, similar to the UK ETA, should also be launched by 2025.
Under the rising price of UK immigration, the cost of other services including naturalization as a British citizen will also rise.