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What is ETA?

Key Challenges

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The new UK ETA System

Starting in 2025, the UK is introducing the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system, of significant importance for those travelling internationally for business. This new digital travel permit applies to visitors from visa-free countries, including European Union citizens, and impacts short-term business visits. From April 2, 2025, EU nationals will need an ETA. If your business involves frequent trips to the UK, understanding this new system is important for smooth travels.
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Here’s a breakdown of what this means for your business, and how you can stay ahead of the changes.

What is the ETA, and why does this matter?

The ETA is not a visa but a digital travel permission for short stays. It’s simple to apply for, costs £10, and remains valid for two years, allowing multiple entries for stays of up to six months per visit. The 180-day (6-month) rule refers to the maximum duration of stay per visit, not per year. For businesses, this is more than a formality. It introduces an additional administrative step for your international sales team, export managers, or directors traveling to the UK for meetings, events, or market exploration. While it’s straightforward, it’s an extra step that needs to be done in advance or avoid delays.

Key challenges and recommendations for Businesses

Prepare your trips in advance and organise your personal ETA in March 2025. ETA decisions typically take three working days but can take longer if additional checks are needed. Late applications could delay business trips. Even if employees only have a layover in the UK, they will still need an ETA, adding preparation for connecting flights. In other words if you are traveling to the US and have a stopover in London, you need to organise your ETA. Ensure employees are aware of the process and requirements, including the use of the UK ETA app for faster results.

Boost Business: your local commercial professional

With the ETA system adding new layers to international travel, having a local presence in the UK is more important than ever. Boost Business provides local commercial professionals who live in the UK, understand the UK market, speak the language, and can build relationships with key players. Our boosters represent your business, drive sales, and create local partnerships — minimising your need to travel.

Ready to explore your options?

Ready to explore your options? Let’s discuss how we can bring apply these trends into your business.

The success collaboration

In June 2023, Boost Business and The Restaurant Tour began their collaboration to create a dining experience across the UK. This partnership has led to the planning of 20 Restaurant Tours for 2024, with 750 people already enjoying these culinary journeys. Discover here the journey and experience from this growth accelerator.

How did this started?

Anouk, the owner of Boost Business, moved to Birmingham with a passion for discovering new places and meeting new people. Her love for dining out and connecting with local restaurateurs inspired her to organize a 'personal Restaurant Tour' for a friend's 30th birthday. The success of this event, featuring five restaurants and a curated menu of dishes and drinks, sparked the idea of bringing a similar concept to Birmingham. Recognizing the potential, Anouk reached out to The Restaurant Tour, and the collaboration was born. Based on passion and interest, the connection was made with Anouk (local professional) & Restaurant Tour (ambitious company).

Why this partnership works

Restaurant Tour had previously attempted to expand internationally to Belgium and Scandinavia but faced challenges due to a lack of local focus and cultural connection. Anouk's passion for restaurants, her local insights and easy to move around with foot on the ground have been important in making this collaboration successful. Boost Business has been integral in every step, from setting up a limited company to establishing marketing strategies and hiring local professionals.

Restaurant Tour (Dutch; WijnSpijs) are the experts in their current market, have experience with internationalisation so made a plan of action quickly. The defined success factor required local knowledge and passion. In a low-key way, Boost Business and Restaurant Tour partnered to validate the product market fit as a first step.

Parallel to validate the product market fit, a UK Limited was launched, a bank account opened and a dedicated team from NL to support the new market.

How the collaboration started

Parallel to validate the product market fit, a UK Limited was launched, a bank account opened and a dedicated team from NL to support the new market.

What's next?

Boost Business and Restaurant Tour developed a model that uses local agents to manage tours in their cities to ensure a cultural connection and high-quality experiences. At this moment Boost Business and Restaurant Tour are onboarding passionate local agents in every major UK city, empowering them to run their own Restaurant Tours. This approach ensures a strong connection with local culture and markets.

With four agents already on board and 20 tours planned for 2024, they're on track to achieve our goal of 250 tours across the UK. Join us on this culinary journey! Visit the website of the Restaurant Tour here.

A big thank you to Wouter, Laura, Thomas and the WijnSpijs team for their trust and collaboration. To see their view on the collaboration, have a look at the video below:

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