Theresa May, home secretary, has bowed to pressure from retailers and businesses who want to lure high-spending Chinese tourists to Britain by seeking to bring in a joint visa application for the UK and other European countries.

英国内政大臣特里萨•梅伊(Theresa May，见右图)已屈从于零售商和其他商家的压力，寻求推出同时适用于英国与其它欧洲国家的共同签证申请程序。英国零售商与其他商家希望吸引出手阔绰的中国游客。

London’s department stores such as Harrods and other companies have long complained that the UK’s time-consuming and complex visa application process means they are losing Chinese customers to more accessible European capitals.

伦敦的百货公司（例如哈罗斯(Harrods)）和其它公司很久以来一直在抱怨，英国的签证流程繁琐耗时，把中国顾客推向了签证更便利的其它欧洲国家首都。

Only this week Willie Walsh, chief executive of IAG, which owns British Airways and Iberia, described the bureaucracy and delays involved in obtaining a UK visa as a “major problem”.

就在本周，国际航空集团(IAG)首席执行官威利•沃尔什(Willie Walsh)也发出过类似抱怨，他把获取英国签证过程中所遭遇的繁文缛节和拖拉延迟称为“一大麻烦”。国际航空集团旗下拥有英国航空(British Airways)和西班牙伊比利亚航空公司(Iberia)。

“There’s a perception in China that the UK does not want to see Chinese tourists and businesses,” Mr Walsh warned. “The government talks good talk about doing business with China, but it’s one thing saying it and another putting that into action.”

沃什利警告称：“在中国，有一种看法：英国不欢迎中国游客和企业。英国政府对英中贸易嘴上很重视，但说是一回事，做又是另外一回事。”

Competition to attract Chinese shoppers – who flock to Europe to avoid their own government’s high taxes on luxury goods – is fierce. The Chinese are now the world’s most valuable tourist market, spending a total of $102bn on their global travels in 2012.

吸引中国游客前来购物的竞争十分激烈。为了避开中国政府对奢侈品征收的高额税款，很多中国游客都到欧洲去购物。中国游客目前是全球价值最高的旅游业市场，2012年，中国游客在全球旅游上总共花了1020亿美元。

However, British retailers fear that cumbersome visa bureaucracy is preventing their access to these upwardly-mobile Asian travellers. Visitors from China typically spend £1,676 per visit to the UK, nearly three times the global average. But France currently receives at least 25 per cent more Chinese tourists each year than the UK does.

但英国零售商担心，本国繁琐的签证程序使他们无法从这些蒸蒸日上的亚洲游客身上赚到钱。到英国旅游的中国人每次来英的消费额通常达到1676英镑，几乎是全球平均旅游消费额的三倍。不过，法国目前每年接待的中国游客人数至少比英国多出25%。

Ms May is also facing complaints from her own Cabinet colleagues, with both David Cameron, prime minister and George Osborne, chancellor, concerned about Britain’s openness to Chinese visitors ahead of their planned visits to Beijing this Autumn.

英国内政大臣梅伊也面对其内阁同僚们的抱怨，英国首相戴维•卡梅伦(David Cameron)和财政大臣乔治•奥斯本(George Osborne)都计划在今年秋天访问中国，他们在行前都颇为担心英国对中国游客的开放度。