At Jun Li's travel agency in central London, plans are already afoot to recruit extra staff and train new tour guides in preparation for an expected influx of visitors from China.
But with Britain so far excluded from an agreement between Beijing and the EU on trips by private tour groups, so far he can only watch as the first wave of wealthy tourists heads to neighboring countries such as France.
Under a series of accords signed by Beijing, organized tour groups can now travel throughout the 25-member EU -- except for Britain, Denmark and Ireland.
As countries such as France and Italy rolled out the red carpet last week to the new arrivals, tourism bosses here bemoaned Britain's tardiness.
"We were always thinking Britain is kind of slow," said Li, a director at China Holidays, a small independent travel agent in central London which already caters for some 2,000 Chinese visitors to Britain a year.
"We understand their concerns about immigration. But if France and Germany don't worry about this, why does Britain?"
Industry chiefs are however optimistic that London and Beijing will soon reach an agreement that will put Britain on the "authorized destination status" (ADS) list, which now counts 53 countries around the world.
"It was a great disappointment that we were left out of that," said Stephen Dowd, chief executive of the British Incoming Tour Operators Association, which represents companies serving visitors to Britain.
"We've been very concerned about this and lobbying very, very hard to make sure that Britain is included and we do get this ADS status as soon as possible," he said.
Dowd said he understood that a deal had been done and was waiting to be signed. If so it would have a "profound impact over a long period of time," he predicted.
But he added: "Certainly it will not happen overnight," requiring an act of parliament before the first wave of new visitors could touch down.
"Even with the best will in the world that's not going to happen really before the end of next spring. It may even be longer."
Some 68,000 visas were granted for Chinese to visit Britain last year, all ostensibly for business or educational purposes.
The figure was dwarfed by the estimated 300,000 to 400,000 who travelled to France.
At London's Sheraton Park Tower Chinese television stations have just been added to the hotel's 280 rooms.
"As we get more and more Chinese guests we would look very much to introduce new services specifically for them," said spokeswoman Amelie Dence.
Most Chinese visitors to Britain combine the trip with one other destination in Europe, staying a few days in London and going on day trips to nearby tourist hotspots such as Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, or the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, said Li.
If they stay longer they might also take in Scotland and the Lake District.
Tourism chiefs here blame the tardy pace of negotiations between Britain and China on London's worries about illegal immigration, something which the government acknowledges.
"For the United Kingdom, by the very fact that it's an island, it was more difficult, so they didn't sign the ADS agreement immediately," said Jonathan Simpson, a spokesman for Visit Britain, a government agency.
"However, it will be signed in the next six months," he added.
"Certainly we very much hope that the China market will be an extremely strong one for tourists. The number of potential tourists from China is extremely high."
According to Chinese state media, 20.2 million Chinese tourists travelled abroad in 2003, up 21 percent from the previous year.
"The World Tourism Organization has calculated that China will have 100 million outbound tourists a year by 2020," said Dowd, "so all we need is a very small percentage of that to change the whole nature of our inbound industry."
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique