To Recovery and Beyond

But as the sector recovers, we must not lose sight of our collective aspiration to improve passenger experiences, deliver the promise of seamless travel, and enhance security.  It is not enough to aspire simply to get back to how things were in 2019.  As an industry, we need to aim higher. And remind ourselves, and our passengers, of what we were trying to achieve before the pandemic brought travel and tourism to a standstill.

Michelangelo captured the essence of that idea some 500 years ago: “the greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.”  That is as valid today as it has ever been.

Leveraging advances in technology to deliver better security

There are invaluable lessons to be learned from our shared experience of the past three years. Working tirelessly together, government and industry designed and implemented new ways of working to protect public health. Digital Passenger Declarations and the use of Visible Digital Seals became commonplace almost overnight. And as ICAO continues to move forward with standardizing the Digital Travel Credential (DTC), the reality of ‘digital travel’ is now clearly on the horizon.

Technology, for its part, has certainly not stood still. To cite just a few examples: significant advances in machine-learning, artificial intelligence, LiDAR, data analytics, automation, robotics and explosive detection algorithms present credible enhancements and alternatives to how we perform passenger screening and risk assessments.

Many governments now have firm plans to replace cabin baggage x-rays with far more advanced Computed Tomography (CT) systems, introducing explosive trace detection capabilities at the security checkpoint.  The introduction of Explosive Detection Systems for Cabin Baggage (EDSCB) is a significant step forward and a major milestone achievement for enhancing security.

Is it time for us all to get back together under one roof?

Perhaps what is missing today is an international forum which brings together regulators, practitioners, carriers, operators, technologists and academics – all under one roof – to focus exclusively on transportation security. This would create an environment for us to jointly examine the challenges and explore the possibilities of how we can make travel safer, simpler and more secure.

In aviation, IATA led the way with AvSec World for many years.  Maybe, in this period of industry recovery, now is the time to reconsider the value of such a forum and encourage the likes of ICAO, ACI, WTTC, UNWTO, CLIA, IATA and others to elevate security on their global agendas to sustain focus, and commit to making continuous improvements over the coming years.

There is still much to be done to secure travel and tourism’s recovery. And it’s incumbent upon us to ensure we set our aims high.

If you would like to find out more about securing travel and tourism’s recovery, why not get in touch and let’s continue the conversation?

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