Aviation technology specialist SITA and the Government of Aruba have successfully demonstrated the implementation of verifiable digital credential technology.

Through a series of trials in collaboration with SITA and their partner Indicio, the Government of Aruba is aiming to make Digital Travel Credentials (DTC) a permanent feature for visitors arriving on the island, making it one of the first countries globally to do so.

Speaking at the ICAO TRIP conference in Montreal, Jeremy Springall, senior vice president of SITA At Borders, and Andrew Hoo, director of immigration for the Government of Aruba, highlighted that the development of Digital Travel Credentials (DTC) enable passengers to securely create a digital version of their physical passport on their mobile device in line with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.

Earlier this year, the partnership demonstrated that passengers arriving at Queen Beatrix International Airport could apply for their travel authorisation using a simplified process that eliminates the need to manually enter information from paper travel documents.

Using a DTC, passengers can consent to share any of their relevant data directly from their digital wallet on their mobile device to multiple entities across journeys, from the government at the port of entry to other touchpoints such as hotels or car rental services.

Hoo said: “As an island where tourism is fundamental to our economy, we want to make the immigration process as easy as possible for passengers.

“With a Digital Travel Credential, we now have a way to make entering the country as easy as scanning your face while meeting our security needs.

“This is just the start of our digital transformation journey. We want to use this technology so that visitors will never forget they are on vacation when they arrive on the island.”

Springall said: “The development of Digital Travel Credentials represents the biggest innovation in the travel industry in at least a decade.

“It will fundamentally simplify how we travel, allowing governments to approve passengers ahead of travel so they arrive at the airport ready to fly.

“To be identified, all passengers need to do is scan their face.”