The Home Office of UK announced a more convenient visa system for Chinese tourists during Premier Li's visit to London on Monday. All Chinese visitors will now be able to use a single form to process applications for both British and Schengen visas, which permit access to 26 European countries.

The Home Office also said that Chinese tourists holding Irish visitor visas will also be able to travel to the UK in about six months.

British Home Secretary Theresa May said Britain has no desires to join the Schengen visa plan due to immigration concerns.

The UK-China Visa Alliance says that about 1.3 million Chinese tourists have been prevented from entering the UK because of the complicated visa process, and most instead went to Germany or France. The new approach is designed to streamline the UK's visa process to attract more Chinese tourists.

VisitBritain is the UK's national tourism agency and it says that about 200,000 Chinese travelers visited Britain last year and spent an an average of about 25,000 pounds per person. That's four times the overall average spent by foreign visitors, or about 500 million pounds in total value.