VisitBritain has welcomed chancellor George Osborne’s plan to refund the cost of up to 25,000 visas for Chinese tourists, describing it as the ‘perfect catalyst’ for a boom in visitors from the Middle Kingdom.

The scheme is expected to generate between £8-15m, and between 150 and 300 new jobs for the tourism industry, with tour operators refunding the visa costs to Chinese booking UK tours.

The announcement was made by Osborne at an economic summit in London – attended by Chinese vice premier Ma Kai – where he also announced deals worth £2.6bn between Chinese and British firms. Osborne’s move follows the release of a recent report that found the UK could be missing out on £1.2bn in Chinese tourism spend per year due to its visa rules.

The government has said it is committed to attracting more Chinese tourists to the UK, while VisitBritain aims to welcome 650,000 Chinese visits a year by 2020 – a substantial increase on the 196,000 visits from China to the UK in 2013. Earlier this year, the tourism body unfurled a ‘GREAT China Welcome’ flag at Blenheim Palace to launch a new charter mark that UK tourism and hospitality businesses can use to show they are ‘China-ready’.

“This (visa announcement) is a most welcome scheme and acts as the perfect catalyst to enable Chinese tourists to not only visit Britain, but travel right across the country,” said VisitBritain director of strategy and communications Patricia Yates. “Working together with tour operators, VisitBritain will ensure our messaging remains welcoming and that we continue to deliver jobs and growth for Britain’s fifth largest export – tourism.”