Four out of five UAE travelers want to use biometrics to reduce wait times

Travelers from the UAE are overwhelmingly in favor of using their biometrics to reduce waiting in security lines, with 83 percent saying they would opt to do so, according to a survey by travel commerce platform Travelport.

Dubai International Airport recently rolled out its biometric ‘smart tunnel’ to reduce passport control processing time to as little as 15 seconds, and Emirates airline has since opened its ‘biometrics path,’ which extends facial and iris recognition to the check-in, lounge entry, and boarding processes.

Travelport’s annual Global Digital Traveler Research shows that voice search and flight-related mobile app features are critical to UAE travelers, and figure prominently in their decision-making.

“Our research findings underpin how important digital tools, such as smartphones, biometric screening and voice search, have become for UAE travelers,” Travelport UAE country manager Kathryn Wallington. “For those in the global travel industry, providing relevant and timely digital tools is no longer an option, but essential to be able reach and satisfy travelers of the modern age.”

UAE travelers use an average of 14 apps for researching, booking, and experiencing trips, and a significantly higher number say that a good digital experience is important when choosing an airline for leisure travel (70 percent) than travelers in France (58 percent), Germany (55 percent) or Japan (39 percent).

Article Topics

biometrics  |  passenger processing  |  travel and tourism  |  UAE