WTTC reunites key players in the EU to discuss industry’s vision for a seamless and secure journey. WTTC research reveals that on average four in five international travellers would be willing to share their photographs in advance of travel to speed up their journey.
BRUSSELS – The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, convened at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium for a critical workshop, bringing together public and private sectors with technology providers to agree on models which are globally interoperable, technology neutral and cover the end-to-end journey in an effort to advance the vision of a Seamless Traveller Journey.
With growth happening so rapidly, infrastructure must keep pace with demand but in many cases, especially aviation, old systems are unable to cope with the demand we see today. The number of people travelling every year will only continue to grow, thus, it is crucial that the Travel & Tourism sector help create conditions for secure and efficient travel through and beyond borders.
The workshop tackled issues such as the industry vision for seamless travel, technology and border control, risk management, privacy and biometrics law.
The event counted with high-level representatives from the European Institutions, the private sector members and partners – AENA, Amadeus, Hilton, Hotelbeds, Idemia, KLM, Melia, MSC Cruises, NEC, NH Hotels, Radisson, Royal Caribbean, SITA, Vision-Box, WorldReach Software, among others and Industry organizations such as ACI Europe, CER , IATA, IBMATA
Research from the WTTC shows that four out of five (80%) international travellers from key European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) would be willing to share their photographs with relevant organisations if it meant a smoother traveller journey.
With most travellers being low risk, increasing the presence of biometric technology throughout the traveller journey would allow governments to maximise resources and focus on the small number of high-risk travellers. This can also aide in easing capacity and unlocking the full economic potential of Travel & Tourism.
The Seamless Traveller Journey would allow biometric and biographic data to be provided prior to travel, allowing border agencies to authenticate and pre-clear travellers in advance of arrival, thus reducing cumbersome checks and queues at ports and airports. From a traveller’s perspective, this would present itself as a journey wherein the traveller no longer needs to present travel documents and boarding passes multiple times to a variety of stakeholders at different stages of their journey.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
