Enhanced collaboration key to transform travel experience

Government

Enhanced collaboration key to transform travel experience

Dubai, UAE, March 12, 2015: Key players of the global borders management, airline, airport and smart technology industries utilized the Future of Borders International Conference to provide valuable insights into the travel trends and challenges and how the stakeholders could benefit through collaboration in transforming borders and ensuring greater traveler facilitation. The two-day conference was organized by the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA-Dubai).

It had a stellar line-up of 24 speakers from 12 countries, including the representatives of Airports Council International, International Air Transport Association, Frontex, the European Union cooperation agency for borders management, and senior immigration and border control organizations of the US, United Kingdom, Australia, Netherlands and Hong Kong. The other organizations represented at the conference were: Emirates Airline, Aer Lingus, AirFrance-KLM, emaratech, Dubai, Incheon and Brussels airports.

The conference was supported by various organizations including Emirates, emaratech, Commercial Bank of Dubai, DP World, Ritz Carlton-DIFC, Zajel, Key Information Technology, LRS Identity, Microsoft, Marhaba and Dubai Media Inc. In his concluding remarks, Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General of GDRFA-Dubai, said the conference will go a long way in finding ways and means towards the goal of making the journey memorable, smooth and seamless. Knowledge-sharing will help in devising processes and policies to meet the rising expectations of the travelers. This conference debate and recommendations will be of immense help to all the key stakeholders of the travel world borders, airports, airlines and technology providers.

Major General Obaid Muhair bin Suroor, Deputy Director General of GDRFA-Dubai, said the coming together of all stakeholder on one platform reflects the global keenness towards ensuring a better future for the travelers. The conference, he added, will pave the way for all the stakeholders to work united in achieving the goals of seamless travel experiences. The speakers shared their vision, suggestions and recommendations for consideration by the industry players in the coming time. Greater collaboration and cooperation among the key stakeholders have been the core element of every presentation that was made at the conference. Every speaker has highlighted the importance of technology in the future and how man-machine interface will change further in the coming years.

Over seven billion people are projected to travel by air by 2020, almost double the present numbers. With rising number of travelers and their growing expectations about facilitation and border experiences, the conference had ample in store to learn about the current trends and future challenges.
Case studies presented at the conference showed that organizations that are putting money and efforts in technology are benefiting the most in satisfying the travellers expectations and profiting from their operations. The most important point that came up during the conference is the need for collaboration among different stakeholders.

Angela Gittens, Director General, Airports Council International (ACI),said: Countries need to work together so they can have seamless interaction for passengers in between the two countries. Routine work should be done by machines. It is the complex jobs that should be done by humans.
She emphasized on the need for collaboration among airports, airlines and the government officials to ensure a safe, secure and well facilitated journey with passengers.For those small minority of high risk passengers who need more attention from the authorities (whether immigration, security or customs standpoint) we do not want to inconvenience the vast majority that are just trying to travel for business or leisure, she added.
Michael Herrero, Gulf Area Manager, International Air Transport Association (IATA), said: The key word is collaboration. We need to have greater collaboration between different governments, between airports, airlines and governments as well as within the countries.

He added: We already have the technology and standards and with a conference like the Future of Borders we have the momentum. We should make sure that we define a common vision to work together toward challenge of the future. In the next year event, we would want to see agreements between governments, countries happening here. On handling the surge in passenger numbers, Angela recommended focusing on re-designing and re-thinking about processes. She remarked: Dubai airport has shown how it was able to increase capacity and handle rise in volumes by changing processes. I think Dubai has done a very good job in anticipating its growth and in accommodating that growth. It now needs to look at its processes and have different components work together and also learn from countries that have done to get the next step in activities and customer service.
Angela added: It is also important for airlines to work with airports as they plan for the future. Airlines operate in a highly competitive market and can make changes rather easily compared to airports. It will be helpful for airports if the airlines are able to share plans, route structures and volumes so they can plan.

Michael Irish, CEO of LRS Identity, one of the sponsors of the conference, said: The conference assembled a remarkable array of speakers that presented compelling and highly relevant material. We would like to thank HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al Maktoum, GDRFA-Dubai and emaratech for the privilege and opportunity. "

Sayed Hashish, General Manager, Public Sector, Microsoft Middle East & Africa, said Microsoft Cloud platform, coupled with the Microsoft innovation in new technologies, especially in areas like holographic computing, natural language processing and machine learning, are creating new ways for countries to strengthen border control while elevating the passengers experience. At Microsoft, we are very glad to be a strong partner for the United Arab Emirates. The UAE has always been a leader in implementing Microsofts cutting edge technologies, and we are proud to continue our collaboration to support the UAE being the leader in efficient, elevated and secure border control and passenger experience.