卡梅伦:英国访客签证有效期延至两年

UK visitor visas for Chinese tourists will be valid fortwo years - four times the usual six-month limit for astandard visitor visa - from January, British PrimeMinister David Cameron said on Wednesday.

英国首相卡梅伦于周三宣布，中国访客从明年1月起可享受有效期延至两年的英国访客签证，是现有标准下六个月有效期的四倍。

He also announced plans for a new 10-year multi-entry visa for Chinese tourists at no extra cost.

他还宣布了针对中国旅客的一个10年多次入境签证的新计划，而且不需额外费用。

New arrangements being piloted will offer better value in both cost and convenience as the UKmobile fingerprinting service to capture the biometrics needed for visa applications is extendedfrom nine Chinese cities to 50 - making it far easier to apply.

新计划将给中国游客带来更高的性价比和便利性，获取签证申请所需生物信息的英国指纹录入服务，将从现有的9个城市扩展至50个城市，使申请英国签证更加容易。

The government is also discussing with the Chinese government the potential to expand theexisting UK network of 12 visa application centers - already more than any other EU country.

中英政府还商议了关于增加现有的12个英国签证申请中心数量的潜在可能性，目前该数量已经多于任何其他欧盟国家。

The changes amount to a much better deal than the standard Schengen visitor visa which islimited to a maximum 90 days, and puts the UK on a par with the 2014 US offer.

这些改变将使英国签证比有效期最多为90天的标准申根访客签证更具吸引力，同时使英国可与美国2014年提出的的签证服务相媲美。

Chinese tourists currently contribute 500 million annually to the UK economy with recordnumbers visiting to make the most of the retail opportunities and visitor attractions on offer -up 35 percent between April and June this year compared to the same period in 2014, accordingto latest figures from VisitBritain.

中国游客现在每年为英国经济贡献5亿英镑，破纪录的访英人数为零售业和旅游景点带来巨大的收益。根据英国旅游局最新数据，今年四月至六月，中国访英人数较2014年同比增长35%。

Overall, visit visas issued to Chinese nationals have almost trebled over the past five years from115,000 in 2009 to 336,000 in 2014, with spending increased by 326 percent. With everyChinese visitor spending on average 2,688 per visit, visitor visa extensions will enable them tomaximize their spending power even further.

总的看来，发给中国的访客签证数量在过去五年几乎翻了3倍，从2009年的11.5万份增至2014年的33.6万份，中国访客在英消费额增长了326%。每个中国游客在每次行程平均花费2688英镑，访客签证有效期的延长，将使中国访客能进一步扩大其消费能力。

Overall inbound tourism, one of its fastest growing services, was worth more than 26 billion tothe UK economy in 2013, so the benefits of increasing Chinese visitors can also be seen in jobcreation where, for example, every 22 additional Chinese visitors create an additional job inthe sector.

入境旅游业是增长最快的服务业之一，在2013年为英国经济贡献超过260亿英镑的收入。所以增加中国访客的益处还体现在随之增加的就业，比如每增加22名中国访客，就能为该行业增加一个新的就业。

"China is becoming one of our fastest-growing tourism markets, so making it easier and moreconvenient for Chinese visitors to come to the UK is extremely important. That is why theannouncement I'm making today is great news for our tourism industry and great news forthe British economy enabling us to maximize Chinese spending power even further," Cameronsaid.

卡梅伦说：“中国正成为我们增长最快的旅游市场之一，所以使中国访客更容易方便地来到英国非常重要。这也是为什么我今天宣布的消息对我们的旅游业而言是个好消息，对英国经济也是个好消息，这使中国访客能够进一步扩大其在英消费能力。