Airport Business

MAY 2014

The airport professional's source for airport industry news, articles, events, and careers.

Issue link: http://airportbusiness.epubxp.com/i/311874

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 22 of 35

TECH TRENDS May 2014 airportbusiness 23 on the aircraft for a considerable amount of time to wait for the immigration hall to empty out enough for them to enter. "As a result, international passengers are left with a negative first impression of the United States, discouraging future visits and even potentially impacting regional economic activ- ity supported by tourism and business travel," Farrell adds. The adverse impact on the nation's econ- omy is a very real concern. Tourism spending represents big business in the United States. In February, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker reported that international visitors spent a record-breaking $180.7 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods in 2013. And according to the U.S. Travel Association, this trend adds jobs for U.S. residents; for every 33 overseas travelers coming to the United States, one U.S. job is created. Yet, in spite of this, a cavalier attitude toward the experiences of international visi- tors remains. In 2013, a U.S. Travel Association survey showed that 43 percent of international travelers reported they would not recommend a trip to the United States because of its cumbersome entry process. Even worse, data shows these problems will likely esca- late as passenger volumes continue to grow. According to the International Air Transport Association, the number of international air travel passengers will reach 1.45 billion by 2016. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed by the U.S. Travel Association said alleviating long customs lines would make the United States a more attractive destination. But what is the answer in a time of federal funding shortfalls and shrinking revenues? "The solution to this problem is a combination of technology and manpower," says Sigmund. LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY According to SITA, Automated Passport Control (APC) self-service kiosks, which allow passengers to provide their travel documents, biometric data and customs declarations prior to speaking with a CBP officer, provide a promising solution. GLOBAL GATEWAY ALLIANCE TAKES CBP COMMISSIONER TO TASK THOUGH the Global Gateway Alliance let- ter to R. Gil Kerlikowske asks the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to add more kiosks to further shorten customs wait times, it also recommends changing more than technology to address the customs bottleneck. The Alliance asks CBP to: f Add CBP officers as passenger demand continues to increase, particularly in the New York and New Jersey markets. f Develop on-call CBP rapid response teams. These teams could be summoned any time a particular customs line becomes too long for passengers or CBP officers. f Reallocate resources so that CBP administrative duties no longer fall to officers. Part-time shifts should be permitted and administrative personnel added to peak shifts for those duties that do not involve processing travelers. f Build transparency into CBP data. CBP has made real progress in increasing publicly available data in recent years, including improving its website and mobile applications. The next step is to replace the monthly wait time data with real-time, comprehensive and read- ily accessible wait time information available to passengers and stakeholders. Houston Airports added GCR Inc.'s kiosks in January and handled 2,500 passengers in the first day. Today these systems process nearly 5,000 visitors a day. airb_22-25_TechTrendsCustoms.indd 23 5/2/14 9:51 AM

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Airport Business - MAY 2014