Calls grow for joint tourist visa with UK

IRISH TOURISM:TOURISM IRELAND has called for a joint tourist visa with the UK to allow tourists from outside the EU to have easier access to Ireland, describing it is "imperative" for tourism growth.

The organisation, which markets the island of Ireland abroad, said it accepted the criticisms by Gerry Mullins, the chief executive of the Coach Tourism Transport Council, contained in a letter published in this newspaper last week.

Mr Mullins said visitors from China, India and Russia, three of the biggest markets in the world, are discouraged from coming to Ireland because of the difficulties of the visa system, which involves providing six months of bank statements, plus marriage certificates, birth certificates and three consecutive pay slips, among other items.

Others have echoed this sentiment, with Petroceltic chief executive Brian O’Cathain describing the process in another letter to The Irish Times as “incredibly tortuous”.

Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said they have been lobbying the Department of Justice to operate a common tourism visa with the UK.

“Tourism Ireland’s preferred option would be a combined tourism visa for the UK and Ireland that is easily accessible and competitively priced, and would level the playing field for our tourism industry,” Mr Gibbons said.

The organisation is in favour of a visa system that compares with the successful Schengen arrangements between 25 countries in continental Europe, whereby a visa for one country is applicable to all.

Mr Gibbons said he had met his counterpart from Visit Britain, and both agreed that a common tourist visa was a good arrangement given that tourists can travel from London to Belfast and cross the Border without being detected.

Mr Gibbons said that the UK issues millions of visas to Asian citizens every year, and if Ireland could get a “slice of the action it would be good for us, because those visitors stay for longer and they are good spenders and good travellers”.

Tourism Ireland has targeted new markets such as China and India as huge potential growth areas in the future. These countries together account for nearly a third of the world’s population and have rapidly expanding middle classes.

Along with visitors from Japan and the Middle East, they account for 5 per cent of all tourists to Ireland.

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation reckons visits abroad from Chinese and Indian citizens will expand by an average of 6.5 per cent every year for the next 15 years.

Tourism Ireland has included China as part of its St Patrick’s Day marketing celebrations.