WTTC WARNS AIRPORTS AT OVER CAPACITY, BIOMETRICS SOLUTIONS ONLY WAY FORWARD

Video available to download.

 

Report from the World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina

At the World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit, which opened April 18 in Buenos Aires, there was a sense of urgency to deploy biometric solutions as industry leaders warned that airports, many already over capacity, cannot handle an additional 21 million additional fliers annually. Governments, they acknowledge, have little appetite to spend money expanding current facilities or build new ones.

Biometrics, they note, have the potential of doubling capacity by speeding more travellers through existing terminals more quickly while simultaneously making the experience more pleasant. In the U.S.A, 8 airports and 3 airlines have launched test programs.

On the back of the Facebook data breach - can biometrics deliver queue-free travel for passengers who agree to share data?

Industry leaders including Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International, WTTC CEO Gloria Guevara, Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths, former CEO of Visa International Christopher Rodrigues, Deloitte vice chairman and U.S. Travel, Hospitality and Leisure Leader Guy Langford and Emirates Airlines president of group service Gary Chapman all weigh in on issues of privacy, technology, intergovernmental cooperation and trust. 

Facial recognition, iris scans, fingerprints and finger vein readers hold the promise of removing the hassles that currently make airports a test of endurance and patience. 

Overview of WTTC: 

World Travel and Tourism Council’s Global Summit, where the world leaders in Travel & Tourism come together annually to discuss, debate and align the industry in matters of travel facilitation, policies for growth & importantly look celebrate best practices in environmental sustainability. 

The great and the good of Travel & Tourism attending the Council’s Global Summit meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina include His Excellency Mauricio Macri, President of the Republic of Argentina, HRH Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, film director Francis Ford Coppola, and the presidents and CEOs of major travel companies, airlines, hotels, airports and others from every part of the world. 

For more information www.wttc.org 

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Source: WTTC (World Travel & Tourism Council)

00:00:00 Title Plate 

00:07:22 B-Roll Biometrics Stock Footage  

01:15:06 Soundbite Gloria Guevara, President & CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council 

“The answer is technology. Technology can help us because we all have a unique identity. Biometrics, for instance, can help us to make the journey more efficient and seamless.” 

01:33:14 Soundbite Arne Sorenson, President & Chief Executive Officer, Marriott International 

“I think more and more, you look at what’s happened with Facebook – is this concern now about privacy and about how information gets used.” 

01:52:19   Soundbite Gary Chapman President Group Services & dnata Emirates Group

“We’re not going to be in the business of spying on our customers. Where there are security issues – think about how security markets where we are already searching cars maybe, searching baggage before it comes into the hotel – by and large that is not happening in the United States or Canada.” 

02:03:09 Soundbite Guy Langford Vice Chairman US Travel, Hospitality and Leisure Leader, Deloitte

“Actually, the US Customs and Border Protection has deployed Biometric technology at 8 US airports, to my knowledge. And they’ve actually entered into a pilot, effectively, with 3 major airlines and are talking to several more.” 

02:25:11 Soundbite 2 Guy Langford Vice Chairman US Travel, Hospitality and Leisure Leader, Deloitte

“There’s a great example where using Biometrically-scanned information, they were able to board a flight – I think it was leaving, an international flight leaving LAX, in less than 20 minutes for 350 passengers using that technology.” 

02:49:08  Soundbite Christopher Rodrigues CBE Chairman, British Council 

“If you can interoperability between governments then the technology is the easy bit.”

02:58:09 Soundbite Paul Griffiths Chief Executive, Dubai Airport 

“There’s some very exciting new technology that’s being used in the banking industry and that’s finger-vein recognition. Because, apparently, one of the most unique identifiers about any human is the vein-structure in our hands. And there’s some very intriguing technology where, if you simply pass your hand over the top of a low-energy x-ray scanner, it gives you the entire vein-imprint of your hand and that is utterly unique.” 

03:35:00 B-Roll H.E. Mauricio Macri, President of the Republic of Argentina 

04:05:20 B-Roll Gloria Guevara, President & CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council 

04:17:17 GVs WTTC Global Summit Buenos Aires 2018    

19 April 2018