The British government has taken measures to improve visa services for Chinese visitors, as an effort to help the country's tourism industry to grow, Immigration Minister Mark Harper said Wednesday.

Speaking to key tourism and retail groups, the minister outlined the excellent service already being provided and the significant improvements that have been made to ensure visa process for Chinese visitors to be even quicker and easier.

"China is a priority market for the Britain and we have already made a number of improvements to the service we offer to legitimate Chinese visitors," Harper said.

"The figures show that the Britain gets its fair share of visitors, however we are ambitious to continue to improve our world class visa service and attract even more visitors to Britain."

The improvements in visa service for Chinese visitors to Britain include the extension of the popular five day priority visa service and a new passport pass-back service which allows customers to keep their passports whilst their visa is being processed.

According to Harper, 96 percent of applicants in China get a visa and the vast majorities are processed within 15 days.

He pledged to further better the service for Chinese visitors including launching of a VIP mobile visa service for business travelers, and translating the online application forms and guidance into Chinese language to make the visa service more accessible.

The British government has kicked off a campaign to help develop tourism industry, one of the biggest industries in Britain, in a bid to boost economic growth.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport, said in a statement early this year that it wanted to help the "tourism industry reach its full potential,"

Official figures show that the tourism industry in Britain generates about 115 billion pounds ($175 billion) for the economy each year and supports over 2.6 million jobs.

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2013)