According to Público, analysis now says that the impact of the change in legislation could reach €1.7 billion for the British economy.

According to an analysis carried out with 82 European tour operators, the number of students who visited the UK in 2022 dropped by 83% compared to 2019.

This drop is due to the new passport policy and the elimination of the “List of Travellers” by which organised groups of students, accompanied by teachers, could travel to the United Kingdom using only their ID Card instead of a passport.

This data has been made available by the Tourism Alliance, UKinbound, English UK, BETA and ETOA.

The authors of the review note that “there is now a requirement that all these students must have a full passport. This is a document that many EU children do not normally need to travel across most of Europe, and many do not have this document.”

The analysis also highlights that “the numbers vary from country to country, but, for example, it is estimated that only 35% of Italian school-age children have a passport. The cost (between €50 and €120) and administrative burden of obtaining these documents is a substantial barrier to those considering a trip to the UK.”

In 2019, the UK welcomed 1.2 million students from EU countries who came to learn English, learn about the country's history and culture or participate in cultural and sporting events, estimating that they spent around £1 billion ( around €1.2 billion) in the local economy, supporting close to 17,000 jobs, admitting that “they are a significant component of the UK's 'soft power' activities”.

The analysis also highlights that “the sector is not expected to recover, as operators indicate that the number of school groups that will come to the UK in 2023 will decrease by at least 60%, which means an additional loss of revenue for the UK economy of £600 million (about €700 million).

Richard Toomer, Executive Director of the Tourism Alliance, says: “Student group travel was an important market for the UK economy”.

Toomer concludes that “the Government should urgently reinstate the ‘List of Travellers’ or a similar youth group travel scheme, recognising the extremely low risk posed by these child travellers, the negligible cost and the positive economic impact”.