Simultaneously, the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) released a statement pointing out that the problems created by UK Border Agency at Heathrow, while bad for Britain’s image and economically damaging, should be viewed in the wider context of the problems caused by issuing visas.

Research conducted by ETOA reveals that hundreds of millions of pounds are lost to the UK economy every year because the visa process is so alienating that applicants give up and decide to go elsewhere.

- The UK tourist visa costs £78, which currently offers two countries: the UK and, courtesy of a recent waiver scheme, Ireland. The Schengen visa costs €60 and offers 26 countries.
- The Schengen visa application form is three pages long; that for the UK is eight pages.
- The UK visa form has to be completed in English. The Chinese do not require their visa forms to be completed in Chinese characters; the Russians do not insist on Cyrillic
- Prospective visitors have to submit fingerprints as well as a photo, make themselves available for an interview at a location that can be hundreds of miles from where they live. They may have to wait for as long as three weeks for a decision
- ETOA’s survey of travel agents and tour operators showed that 26 per cent of Indian and 30 per cent of Chinese clients applying for UK visas gave up rather than endure this time consuming and humiliating application.
- France now attracts over 50 per cent more visitors from India than the UK.
- In 2009, Switzerland joined the Schengen Area. Indian visitor arrivals were at 132,000 in 2008, by 2010 they stood at 197,000; this was growth of 49 per cent. In the same period, the UK numbers rose from 359,000 to 371,000: a growth rate of 3 per cent.
- Since the UK introduced visas for South Africans in 2009, visitor numbers have declined by 24%. In the same year visas were abolished for Taiwanese travelling to the UK. Visitor numbers have since increased by 39 per cent and revenue by 155 per cent.
- Visit Britain’s figures show that just three per cent of Chinese visitors to Europe in 2010 obtained a UK visa, two per cent obtained both UK and Schengen visas and 95 per cent obtained just a Schengen visa

Tom Jenkins, Executive Director of ETOA said: “Images of queues at Heathrow damage the UK; they make the prospect of a visit here tiresome and unattractive. The damage done by this is major, but is short term: it can be fixed quickly. The damage done by our visa regime takes place thousands of miles away, where the clients are, in the origin markets. These markets, such as India, China and Indonesia, are of enormous long term importance to our strategic growth as a destination. They are being lost.

The current government is making efforts to improve the speed and experience of obtaining a UK visa. Given the benefits to jobs and investment, this should have the highest priority.”

Continued from yesterday…

The Red Centre
The next stage of the adventure took them on a flight south to Alice Springs in the Red Centre,  the hub of Australia’s gold and gem mining in the 1900s. These days Alice Springs is better known as a base from which to explore the vast desert of the Red Centre, from 4×4 tours and camping under the stars to tackling the Larapinta Trail – a challenging 223km trek running along the spine of the West MacDonnell mountain range.

Jarvis and clan picked up another campervan and drove 310km west from Alice Springs to Watarrka national park and Kings Canyon, a colossal chasm in the George Gill mountains. Sheer cliff faces of rust-red sandstone tower 100 metres above the canyon floor, giving vital shade to plants and animals, and hiding water pools and a sheltered valley known as the Garden of Eden.

Alice Springs

To appreciate the canyon’s scale, most visitors do one of two hikes: a 2.6km gentle walk along the gorge’s floor, or a more demanding 6km climb up to the rim of the canyon. Even Sophia tackled the longer walk, which, says Gill, “is well worth it for the unforgettable views.”

Visitors to the canyon generally stay, like the Smiths, at Kings Canyon Resort, which has camping and a budget lodge as well as a hotel. Some of the hotel rooms have spa baths with floor-to-ceiling glass looking out into the canyon. “From my bath I could watch scores of green parrots in the tree directly outside my window,” recalls Gill.

A trip to the nearby Lilla community, to visit sacred sites and hear about bush foods and medicine, is a new way to learn about Watarrka’s heritage. Almost a quarter of the Territory’s population are Aboriginal people and, since ancestral land was returned to its indigenous owners in 1976, around half of the Territory is Aboriginal-owned. To help visitors find authentic Aboriginal experiences, the tourist board has created hubs in both the Red Centre and Top End to promote and support small indigenous operators.

Uluru

One of the most significant Aboriginal sites is Uluru (Ayers Rock), a sandstone mass 348 metres high, with a circumference of 9km. It’s a controversial site and Jarvis was surprised that some visitors ignore the local Anangu people’s request not to climb this sacred landmark and the government is reluctant to enforce a ban. At Uluru, as at other sites of Aboriginal significance, visitors are asked not to go into restricted areas, not to pick fruit or flowers, and to ask indigenous people before taking photos of them.

On a morning walk around the rock’s base, the Smiths heard stories, and saw paintings depicting how the rock was created and sacred points where Aboriginal women still sit to encourage fertility. The most striking time to see Uluru and the 32 dome-shaped rocks of nearby Kata Tjuta is at sunrise or sunset, when dust in the air filters out the blue of the sun’s rays, turning the sky a spectrum of colours. Watching the magical sunset together, from their campground at Voyages Ayers Rock Resort, was a moment the family say they will never forget.
Hamilton Island, Queensland
After one final Uluru sunrise, Jarvis and his tribe left the Northern Territory for the conclusion of their odyssey by flying to Hamilton Island off Queensland’s coast.

Hamilton Island

The island, at the centre of the Whitsunday archipelago, marks the southern gateway to the 2,600km string of coral known as the Great Barrier Reef. At 5km by 3.5km, Hamilton is one of the largest of the 74 Whitsundays, and has a huge choice of hotels and facilities – and an activity that appealed to each member of the party. Jarvis made the most of Hamilton’s 740 hectares (1,829 acres) by following walking trails around its protected bushland, while animal-mad Sophia enjoyed the koalas in the wildlife park.

An Aboriginal-inspired massage at Spa Wumurdaylin was booked for Annette as a birthday surprise, and Gill looked after Sophia while Jarvis and the sisters explored the coast by sea-kayak, spotting dolphins, turtles and huge shoals of tropical reef fish.

Hamilton Island is within the largest marine protected area in the world and huge efforts are made to run it as sustainably as possible. Electric buggies are provided for guests on the car-free island (the few remaining petrol-powered buggies are being phased out), and a glass-recycling plant has been constructed which crushes glass to be used in garden beds instead of shipping it to the mainland.

On the group’s final day in Australia, they took a catamaran out to Fantasea Reefworld, a floating pontoon on the reef. Jarvis, Livia, Millie and Annette donned ‘stinger suits’ to protect them from jellyfish as they snorkelled, and they came face-to-face with one of the reef’s most inquisitive residents: a three-metre long Queensland grouper called George. While lunching on the pontoon they also spotted humpback whales making the annual migration north, a particularly memorable moment for Livia: “They were so close to the pontoon they gave me a fright when they suddenly shot water out of their blowholes.” The pontoon has equipment for scuba diving and an underwater viewing chamber so even non-swimmers can see the bright corals teeming with fish up close.

Fantasea Reefworld is one of three operators in the Whitsundays that has Eco-tourism Australia accreditation; its marine biologists try to educate visitors about reef ecology and the threats the reef faces. The Smith family learnt to identify some of the reef’s 1,600 species of fish, 133 sharks and rays, and 30 kinds of whale and dolphin. They also heard about the work carried out by the Fantasea Foundation, which funds monitoring of the effects of coral bleaching and climate change on the reef.

“We didn’t just have a fun day out; we learnt why it’s so important to protect the reef,” says Jarvis. “The biologists’ passion for the reef was contagious.” All the family were beguiled by Hamilton Island’s natural charm and, says Jarvis, this is being carefully preserved, “because the height of all new buildings is restricted and 70% of the island will be retained as bush and rainforest”.

Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Islands

Back in Surrey, there was consensus amongst the family that Australia had been the perfect destination for their adventure to celebrate a collective 130 years of birthdays. “Apart from some of the more challenging treks, there was very little that Sophia couldn’t manage,” says Livia. While each has a personal highlight of the trip, they agree that it was sharing it with their closest family that made it so extraordinary. “Eight days in a campervan is a lot,” says Jarvis, “but the shared experiences en route made every minute worthwhile.”