REIMAGINING TRAVEL IN DIGITAL ERA

Immigration checks at airports are increasingly turning paperless as countries adopt Digital Travel Credentials smartphone-based IDs, powered by facial recognition. Promising speed and convenience, this shift signals a new era in global travel, but also raises crucial questions about data security and privacy.

- MASRAT NABI

Across the world, airports are undergoing a quiet revolution. Long queues, manual passport checks and paper documents are giving way to biometric gates and smartphonebased IDs. In countries piloting Digital Travel Credentials (DTC), travellers can breeze through immigration with just a glance at a camera. What once seemed futuristic crossing borders without showing a single document is fast becoming an everyday reality, reshaping the very experience of international travel.in Germany, remembers his recent trip to Finland, not just for the Nordic landscapes or clean design, but also for something far more unexpected.

At Helsinki Airport, as he approached passport control, there were no queues or uniformed officers waiting to flip through his documents. Instead, he walked toward an automated gate, glanced at a camera and within seconds, the glass doors slid open. His identity had been verified, not with his passport, but with a digital credential stored on his phone and authenticated via facial recognition.

“When I reached the immigration area at Helsinki Airport, I was expecting the usual routine long lines, fumbling through my bag for my passport, answering questions. But instead, I just walked up to a sleek-looking gate, looked at the camera for a second and it opened. That was it. I did not have to speak to anyone or show a single document. My identity had already been verified through the app on my phone. Honestly, I was amazed. It felt like stepping into the future like something out of a sci-fi movie,” Taqwi tells India Outbound.