In July 2008 research was carried out to see if a direct link between application fees for short term visit visas and demand could be identified. This was jointly funded by the UK Border Agency, DCMS and Tourism Alliance. Research concluded that in general there is no link between application fees for short term visit visas and demand.
The UK Border Agency also ran two piloted schemes to see if a lower visit visa fee would stimulate demand. From March to September 2007 the pilot was for travellers from China applying to enter the UK on the Approved Destination Status (ADS) scheme. From December 2008 to April 2009 the pilot was carried out in India for visitors on an organised tour with a Trusted Partner (TP) travel agent. The pilot schemes demonstrated that visa cost is not the single most important driver to encouraging applications.