Launch of TA report on school group travel: market dives 83% due to passport rules

The tourism Alliance alongside colleagues from BETA, English UK, and UKInbound with research into what’s happened with school group travel numbers coming to the UK. In the survey of 82 specialist European tour operators, the number of students they sent to the UK in 2022 was down 83% compared to 2019. 
 
This dramatic drop is due to the elimination of the ‘List of Travellers’ scheme whereby EU students in organised school groups, accompanied by teachers, could travel to the UK using their national ID cards rather than passports. 
 
There is now a requirement that all such students must have a full passport. This is a document that many EU children normally do not need to travel around most of Europe, and so many do not have one. Figures vary by country but, for example, it is estimated that only 35% of Italian school children have a passport. The cost (anywhere between €50-€120) and administrative burden of obtaining such documents is a substantial barrier to those considering a trip to the UK. 
 
In 2019, the UK hosted 1.2m students from EU countries who came to learn English, experience the country’s history and culture, or to attend cultural and sporting event. These students spend £1bn in the local economy, support around 17,000 jobs and are a significant component of the UK’s soft power activities. 
 
It is more complicated still for the many schools who have pupils whose parents are foreign immigrants. These children have the right to live in the EU but do not yet have access to an EU passport. To obtain a passport, they have to apply to the country from which their parents fled and even if they obtain one, many would also need a visa to enter the UK. The effect of all this is that it is much easier for schools to organise trips to countries other than the UK. 
 
The industry 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 £600m. 
 
View the tourism webinar for more information