THE Asia Travel Technology Industry Association (ATTIA) has launched a recommendation paper, The Building Blocks of Digital Health Passes (DHP), which highlights key factors to help accelerate travel recovery in Asia Pacific (APAC).
The paper stresses “the importance of a trusted means of safe travel documentation as a promising development in the journey to travel recovery.”
ATTIA prepared the report through consultation with stakeholders from the travel, technology and policy sectors including Affinidi, GovTech Singapore, Halza, IBM, Pacific Asia Travel Association, Roche, SAP and The Commons Project Foundation as part of a policy roundtable.
The association recommends working on three key areas in the issuance of DHPs:
1. Data privacy and security: Providing travellers with effective control over their DHP data is essential to increase access and inclusiveness. These measures will increase travellers’ willingness to share health data that is normally kept private.
2. Interoperability: The solution lies in adherence to standards and creating a framework for interoperability that can be incorporated into existing digitally based systems that operate across international borders
3. Verification: Point-of-Arrival verification will involve the traveller showing the verifier (e.g. immigration officer) their DHP for the verifier to verify and Pre-Arrival / Contactless verification will involve the traveller approving the submission of their DHP to airlines and travel agents.
Additionally, the paper highlights key considerations for industry and government stakeholders involved in speeding up travel recovery in the region,such as diagnostic testing, accessibility and creation of a trusted network and strict frameworks.
“The barriers to universal deployment and adoption of a Digital Health Pass is trust between governments, industry stakeholders and travellers,” said Richard Andrew, executive director of ATTIA.
“Given how varied the technical, geographic, political, economic developmental, regulatory and cultural considerations are, the recommendation paper gives stakeholders in APAC an opportunity to understand the practical steps to make DHPs a reality and how they can play an active role in travel recovery.”
ATTIA represents companies in the travel and tourism sector in Asia Pacific whose members include Agoda, Airbnb, Amadeus, Booking.com, Expedia Group and Travelport.
The PDF report can be accessed here.
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