Amidst COVID-19, several stakeholders of the travel and tourism industry are exploring the choice of digital permits, passes and health certificates which include destinations, airlines, and associations like the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Via providing correct health status (in terms of COVID-19) information for travelers, these digital permits and certificates aim to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection, says GlobalData, leading research and consulting firm.
Flights between Abu Dhabi and Karachi/ Islamabad as well as Rome and New York City/Atlanta also use AOKpass. CommonPass is another similar digital pass that was checked on flights between New York and London. IATA is also working on a ‘Travel Pass’.
Animesh Kumar, GlobalData Director of Travel & Tourism and Automotive Consulting, comments:” Digital passes help passengers show that they comply with their destination’s health entry criteria and increase the safety of international travelers.
Since they can be stored and used via a mobile application, they are simple to use. The software safely stores the negative COVID-19 PCR test results and authenticates them.
When airports have dedicated immigration counters, similar to Changi Airport in Singapore, the passes can also allow faster clearances.
A system that brings travelers, testing laboratories, local authorities, airlines, and immigration authorities into a shared forum is desperately needed and can be facilitated by such digital passes/certificates. The use of QR codes, blockchain, and decentralized data guarantees both privacy and data accuracy.
Once such digital permits and passes are made available on a wide scale, the need for and use of paper certificates will be removed, speeding down the process and opening the doors for future test result manipulation as well.
Read more on Travels on Click:
Tech giants team up on Covid-19 vaccine passports
