Travel far ahead on realizing benefits of biometrics and digital ID

By Alan Goode, CEO and Chief Analyst at Goode Intelligence

Imagine an industry where you can book tickets, store them securely, and then walk from the entrance to your destination seamlessly and securely without having to show tickets and identity documents. Then, when you arrive at your destination, collect a hire car and then walk into your hotel room without lengthy queues and having to present driver’s licenses or passports.

This industry is the travel industry, and this scenario is available now – not a vision for tomorrow.

Biometric Enabled Seamless Travel (BEST) is being used today by millions of people around the world and in a recently published report from Goode Intelligence investigating the market of travel digital identity, we forecast that by 2029 over 1.27 billion travelers will be benefiting from digital identity issued by both governments and commercial organizations including airlines, train operators, and sea travel operators.

This is all happening in an industry with some of the strictest security requirements on the planet. If travel can meet the needs of convenience and security, then other industries can surely learn and benefit from its example.

Biometrics is a key enabler for digital travel identity and is an important area for the reports coverage. From remote selfie-based identity verification on your smart phone, to self-bag drop, accessing VIP lounges, getting through security, concession-shopping, and boarding your plane, train or cruise ship, biometrics is enabling the seamless travel experience.

For government issued and managed digital identity, ICAO’s Digital Travel Credential (DTC) standard is supporting the migration from physical document to digital travel identity. There are promising signs for DTC with several pilots and actual live deployments for DTC Type 1 around the world proving and testing the technology. For DTC Type 1 (eMRTD Bound), the DTC is generated by the user on their smart phone or from a self-service kiosk by reading the chip in the passport. Travelers still need the physical passport to pass through border control. The goal is to have DTCs that can be used on their own, in a same way that digital payments can be used on smart phones without the physical card being present. ICAO has devised a roadmap for this to happen with DTC Type 2 (electronic Machine Readable Travel Document (eMRTD)-PC bound) leading to DTC Type 3, issued without the need for an eMRTD. This means the DTC is entirely contained within a separate component (DTC-PC) and is not directly linked to an eMRTD.

According to the many travel identity experts that I spoke to as part of this research, we are probably five to 10 years away from DTC Type 3.

Of the 1.27 billion travelers that will benefiting from travel digital identity by 2029, 725 million will be air travelers using digital identities issued by commercial organizations, predominantly airlines. IATA One ID was cited by many travel identity experts as an important initiative to provide guidance and a framework for non-government issued digital travel identity. By 2029, we believe that a decent percentage of commercial-issued travel digital identities will be based on IATA’s One ID framework to ensure interoperability and, importantly, a common user experience for air travelers.

Travel offers a great test bed for the wider digital identity market and has been a key sector for growth.

A travel digital identity is your identity information stored electronically in a way that can be used for travel purposes. It can encompass different things, depending on the specific system:

Biographic details: Basic information like your name, date of birth, and nationality.
Biometric data: This could include fingerprints, facial scans, or iris scans.
Digital documents: Electronic versions of your passport, visa, or health certificates.

The main goal is to create a secure and convenient way to verify your identity throughout your travels.

The future is bright for Travel Digital Identity with Goode Intelligence forecasting that by 2029, Travel Digital Identity will be generate over $4.6 billion in revenue with a CGAR of 22 percent over the six-year period.

This puts the sector at the vanguard of Digital Identity adoption globally – outperforming other sectors for growth.

Travel is offering a blueprint in how to digitize identity and provide realizable benefits that that can be replicated by other sectors. Travel offers a great test bed for the wider digital identity market and has been a key sector for growth offering a template for how digital identity can be at the center of the seamless customer experience. From onboarding and remote identity verification.

It is a sector based on highly secure core infrastructure that is managed by suppliers that are not afraid to embrace cutting-edge technology such as biometrics, digital wallets, and verifiable credentials.

The expected growth is based on strong foundations, a combination of:

Global interoperable standards established by industry bodies such as ICAO (driving ePassports and Digital Travel Credentials (DTCs) and IATA (driving One ID).
The ePassport, has established itself as the prime internationally recognized identity documents for identity verification – packed full of physical and digital security features that are simply unparalleled in trusted identity and backed up by ICAO’s Public Key Directory (PKD).
A compelling business case that benefits all parts of the ecosystem from travelers to governments, travel operators and transport hubs, provided by established technology providers.
AI-powered biometric technology that is based on international standards and certification authorities that is accurate, resistant to presentation attacks including deepfakes, and can operate in the cloud and at the edge.
The emergence of standards-based Digital Wallets and Verifiable Credentials (VCs) that supports Biometric Enabled Seamless Travel.

You can find out more about the recently published Goode Intelligence Market Analyst Report “Travel Digital Identity – Seamless Travel Powered by Digital Identity” by checking out our website.