The number of foreign student trips organised to the UK by specialist European tour operators this year was down 83% compared to pre-pandemic 2019, new research reveals.
The survey of 82 specialist operators found that the drop was due to the elimination of a ‘List of Travellers’ scheme following Brexit.
This had enabled EU students in organised school groups, accompanied by teachers, to travel to the UK using national ID cards rather than passports.
But a new requirement requiring overseas students to obtain a full passport before visiting the UK at a cost of anywhere between €50-€120 is seen as an administrative burden which acts as a “substantial” barrier to inbound travel.
Research conducted by industry groups including the Tourism Alliance, UKinbound, and Etoa shows that new rule for students to have full passports to enter the UK is crippling the UK English language school industry with many EU student groups being sent to other destinations such as Ireland.
The UK hosted 1.2 million students in 2019 from EU countries who came to learn English, experience the country’s history and culture, or to attend cultural and sporting event.
They spent an estimated £1 billion in the local economy and supported around 17,000 jobs.
But the sector is not expected to recover, as operators indicate that the number of school groups they will send to the UK in 2023 will be down by at least 60%, meaning a further loss of revenue for the UK economy of £600 million.
New Tourism Alliance executive director Richard Toomer said: “Student group travel was an important market for the UK economy. There are many reasons that these groups would want to visit the UK for sporting events, cultural visits, events and many more.
“What has happened to the UK’s once-strong English language school industry, is a prime example of the damage done by this policy and as a result the country is losing almost £1.5 billon in export revenue.
“The immediate financial loss is severe, but as important is the loss of soft power. They were exactly the kind of first-time visitors that we need to attract; not only would they return throughout their lives, but their experience of regional UK would be amplified back home.
“Leaving the European Union does not mean we had to lose the List of Travellers scheme.
“The government should urgently reinstate it or a similar youth group travel scheme, recognising the extremely low risk represented by these child travellers, the negligible cost, and the positive economic impact.”