Do our European neighbours actually WANT British tourists to visit their countries?
It sure as hell doesn't feel like it...
TONY PARSONS Europe needs to stop treating British holidaymakers like cattle if they actually want tourists to visit
This week's carnage involving thousands of Brits only spells the start of longer and more mundane airport queuing
By Tony Parsons, Sun on Sunday columnist
5th August 2017
DO our European neighbours actually WANT British tourists to visit their countries?
It sure as hell doesn’t feel like it.
Huge numbers of British holidaymakers were left stranded at Barcelona Airport earlier in the week
When British families flew to Europe for their summer holidays this week, thousands were greeted at their destination by airport queues longer than their flights.
From Palma to Paris, Malaga to Barcelona, Amsterdam to Lisbon, eagerly anticipated trips were made miserable by pathetically understaffed passport controls.
And the bigger the tourist destination, the more likely Brits were to be treated like cattle.
The worst of the lot were the four-hour queues at Palma Airport in Majorca — an island that would still be a semi-comatose fishing village if it weren’t for several generations of sun-loving, big-spending Brits.
But don’t expect a glimmer of gratitude.
Tourists kept waiting for hours to clear passport control in Palma tell of being finally handed back their British passport without a word of apology or welcome.
As more and more people began arriving the back-log got worse and worse
The alleged reason for so many holidaymakers starting their holiday in passport purgatory is that beefed-up security measures are now in place across the Schengen zone.
The UK, of course, is not inside the Schengen free movement zone and the increased checks mean that it now takes minutes rather than seconds to ensure a pasty-faced British tourist wearing a Kiss Me Quick sombrero is not a potential terrorist threat.
But these extra security checks were first proposed in December 2015 — one month after terrorist attacks in Paris claimed 130 lives, and they have actually been in place since April.
It looks likely security checks will now takes minutes rather than seconds at airports
Our European neighbours have known for ages that these increased security checks would be operational during the peak holiday period.
Why was nothing done to prepare for them? Why are there so few border officials at European airports?
Why are places like Palma that are happy to take our money not bending over backwards to make passport control as easy as possible for Brits?
Why are they shocked to see so many tourists arrive at the peak of the holiday season?
Some suspect a conspiracy, believing that Brits are being punished for Brexit.
That is possible although a standard EU bureaucratic cock-up seems even more likely.
“We cannot have on the one hand requests to increase security and also complaints about the longer waiting periods,” said a haughty EU spokesperson.
But this is not security worthy of the name.
This is not security that makes anyone safer.
These added checks are merely a meaningless parody of security.
The draconian security vetting currently being inflicted on innocent British holidaymakers will not save one life.
They most certainly would not have stopped the multiple horrors of Paris in 2015, which were inflicted by murdering terrorists who casually crossed the French and Belgian borders with their assault rifles and bomb-making materials WITHIN the Schengen zone.
The tough new EU border checks will now mean longer queues at airports
And the bitter irony is that as British tourists are tormented by witless EU bureaucracy, thousands of undocumented illegal migrants are ushered into the continent without any checks every day of the year, ferried in by the navies and charity boats that now act as a minicab service for the people smugglers.
So if you fancy a fast track into Europe, don’t set out from Gatwick — leave from the coast of Libya in a rubber dinghy.
I am just back from Japan, which is fast becoming one of the hottest destinations in the world as tourists from China, South Korea and Taiwan turn their backs on unsafe, unwelcoming Europe.
The bitter irony is that as British tourists are tormented by witless EU bureaucracy, thousands of undocumented illegal migrants are ushered into the continent without any checks every day of the year
More than 24 million tourists entered Japan last year, with the figure expected to rise to 40 million by the time of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The queues to enter Japan get longer every year.
But the Japanese are doing all they can to facilitate the numbers.
And most importantly of all, when you enter that beautiful, friendly country, you are handed back your passport with a smile.
They act happy to see you.
Is it really much to expect the same level of basic human decency from our European neighbours?
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4178560/tony-parsons-column-british-holidaymakers/
It sure as hell doesn't feel like it...
TONY PARSONS Europe needs to stop treating British holidaymakers like cattle if they actually want tourists to visit
This week's carnage involving thousands of Brits only spells the start of longer and more mundane airport queuing
By Tony Parsons, Sun on Sunday columnist
5th August 2017
DO our European neighbours actually WANT British tourists to visit their countries?
It sure as hell doesn’t feel like it.
Huge numbers of British holidaymakers were left stranded at Barcelona Airport earlier in the week
When British families flew to Europe for their summer holidays this week, thousands were greeted at their destination by airport queues longer than their flights.
From Palma to Paris, Malaga to Barcelona, Amsterdam to Lisbon, eagerly anticipated trips were made miserable by pathetically understaffed passport controls.
And the bigger the tourist destination, the more likely Brits were to be treated like cattle.
The worst of the lot were the four-hour queues at Palma Airport in Majorca — an island that would still be a semi-comatose fishing village if it weren’t for several generations of sun-loving, big-spending Brits.
But don’t expect a glimmer of gratitude.
Tourists kept waiting for hours to clear passport control in Palma tell of being finally handed back their British passport without a word of apology or welcome.
As more and more people began arriving the back-log got worse and worse
The alleged reason for so many holidaymakers starting their holiday in passport purgatory is that beefed-up security measures are now in place across the Schengen zone.
The UK, of course, is not inside the Schengen free movement zone and the increased checks mean that it now takes minutes rather than seconds to ensure a pasty-faced British tourist wearing a Kiss Me Quick sombrero is not a potential terrorist threat.
But these extra security checks were first proposed in December 2015 — one month after terrorist attacks in Paris claimed 130 lives, and they have actually been in place since April.
It looks likely security checks will now takes minutes rather than seconds at airports
Our European neighbours have known for ages that these increased security checks would be operational during the peak holiday period.
Why was nothing done to prepare for them? Why are there so few border officials at European airports?
Why are places like Palma that are happy to take our money not bending over backwards to make passport control as easy as possible for Brits?
Why are they shocked to see so many tourists arrive at the peak of the holiday season?
Some suspect a conspiracy, believing that Brits are being punished for Brexit.
That is possible although a standard EU bureaucratic cock-up seems even more likely.
“We cannot have on the one hand requests to increase security and also complaints about the longer waiting periods,” said a haughty EU spokesperson.
But this is not security worthy of the name.
This is not security that makes anyone safer.
These added checks are merely a meaningless parody of security.
The draconian security vetting currently being inflicted on innocent British holidaymakers will not save one life.
They most certainly would not have stopped the multiple horrors of Paris in 2015, which were inflicted by murdering terrorists who casually crossed the French and Belgian borders with their assault rifles and bomb-making materials WITHIN the Schengen zone.
The tough new EU border checks will now mean longer queues at airports
And the bitter irony is that as British tourists are tormented by witless EU bureaucracy, thousands of undocumented illegal migrants are ushered into the continent without any checks every day of the year, ferried in by the navies and charity boats that now act as a minicab service for the people smugglers.
So if you fancy a fast track into Europe, don’t set out from Gatwick — leave from the coast of Libya in a rubber dinghy.
I am just back from Japan, which is fast becoming one of the hottest destinations in the world as tourists from China, South Korea and Taiwan turn their backs on unsafe, unwelcoming Europe.
The bitter irony is that as British tourists are tormented by witless EU bureaucracy, thousands of undocumented illegal migrants are ushered into the continent without any checks every day of the year
More than 24 million tourists entered Japan last year, with the figure expected to rise to 40 million by the time of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The queues to enter Japan get longer every year.
But the Japanese are doing all they can to facilitate the numbers.
And most importantly of all, when you enter that beautiful, friendly country, you are handed back your passport with a smile.
They act happy to see you.
Is it really much to expect the same level of basic human decency from our European neighbours?
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4178560/tony-parsons-column-british-holidaymakers/
Last edited:
