No tour of Britain is complete without a visit to Bicester shopping village.
There are, of course, the trips to Oxford and Cambridge, the obligatory visit to Buckingham Palace, the stopoff in the Lake District and the pause to smell the Vikings in York. But the Chinese visitors who, since last July, have been allowed to tour Britain on tourist visas are establishing a tourist trail all of their own.
They will shop just about anywhere, divulges David Brown, the Ohio-born vice-president of sales and operations at Gullivers Travel Associates, the agency that accompanied the first party of Chinese But "the shopping malls add a certain efficiency". The real draw, however, is the Clarks shoes discount outlet at Bicester is also popular. Like Burberry, Clarks shoes enjoy an inexplicably iconic status in China, where custom dictates that travellers returning from holiday bring back souvenirs and gifts.
Not that unrestrained capitalism is the UK's only appeal. Chinese visitors are fascinated by the monarchy and "Windsor Palace", Brown says, and often request a trip to Karl Marx's grave at Highgate cemetery.
How do they react to seeing the burial place of the founder of communism? Brown, sotto voce, consults his Mandarin-speaking colleague: "They take lots of photographs." Highgate cemetery charges visitors carrying a camera extra, a policy that so shocked an American friend of mine that she abandoned her visit in disgust. Chinese visitors apparently have no such objections to the commercial exploitation of Karl's memorial. Then it's back on the bus and straight up the A1: "They want to cram in as much as possible," explains Brown. "In no way, shape or form does it appear to be a relaxing holiday."
No wonder, then, that the visitors, most of whom are couples over 40, eschew public transport for the comforts of a warm minibus and a Mandarin-speaking guide. Brown points out, not unreasonably, that the Underground is "rather aggressively signed, almost entirely in English".
British food is approached with similar apprehension. The tours stick exclusively to Chinese restaurants - "I've never had a problem finding a Chinese restaurant in Britain, there seems to be one everywhere" - but visitors will bravely try one English meal of fish and chips or steak and kidney pudding, something they occasionally regret.
However, the Chinese regard British sweets and chocolate as very palatable. Kendal mint cake and a chocolate duck sold by Marks and Spencer have gone down particularly well, though edibles are often preserved as souvenirs rather than being eaten. Then there is whiskey: Famous Grouse is a particular favourite. "When the group visited Bicester shopping village they also sped into Tesco over the road and returned with shopping bags full of Twinings tea bags and Carr's water biscuits," says Sian Brenchley of Visit Britain, who accompanied the first group of approved tourists.
At the British Museum, the Chinese tend to pass by the European haul and head for the quieter galleries devoted to Chinese exhibits. When the sightseeing is over, the Chinese tend to prefer modern hotels, favouring the glass and multilingual charms of Docklands. Both green and English teas are acceptable, though full English breakfasts are not. Hotels trying to attract them, Brown says, should instead provide rice porridge, a soupy mixture of chicken, ginger, stock and rice.
Gullivers has every intention of broadening their horizons further. The agency has just opened an office in China and wants to promote a new range of off-the-beaten-track destinations. "Brighton, Southampton, the Cotswolds, Devon, Cornwall," says Brown. No mention yet of the London hotel where Ho Chi Minh worked as an assistant cook in 1913, Marx's rooms in Soho or Beachy Head, where Engels' ashes were scattered - but tell them, and they will almost certainly come. How much to sponsor "Britain" and "Marx" on Google China?
