When traveling the world, there is one thing you will always need to have on you: your ID. Going from city to city, country to country you will always need to have some form of proof of identification on you. This is both for safety reasons and so that any officials or authorities can identify who you are.
Airports, border security, and ports all now employ the use of ID scanners to make the job easier for them. Places such as bars, clubs, and hotels also have taken to ID scanners to help them identify their guests and patrons for legal and security reasons. An ID scanner can distinguish between real and fake IDs more accurately and can easily and quickly identify someone who perhaps shouldn’t be entering their country or establishment.
In 2019 1.466 billion travelers landed on foreign soil—that’s a lot of people needing to be checked-in at airports, a lot of security checks, and a lot of identification processes. Thankfully we now have ID scanners that can be used across the globe. So, let’s have a look at five uses for ID scanners in the tourism industry. (1)
1 Age restrictions
Many people save up to travel as soon as they possibly can, while some countries have the same legal age to buy alcohol, drive a car, or even travel alone, this age varies from place to place. Some youngsters try to slip under the radar or simply don’t know what the legal age is. In these cases, ID scanners can accurately identify when someone is not of age in said country. They can pick up indicators that an ID is fake too.
This not only helps to keep people honest, but it also helps maintain the business’s reputation. Hotels, bars, clubs, pubs, or liquor stores rely on the business of tourists as a large part of their customer base. It is in their best interest to ensure the safety of patrons and that they don’t accidently get in trouble for serving a minor.
2 Border Security
ID scanners are used at many points of entry into countries including land borders, airports, and harbors. They are used to identify anyone crossing from one country to another and can stop anyone from entering who shouldn’t be traveling. This keeps both the industry safe from bad things occurring, and also keeps residents safe from possible international threats.
They also help with verifying identities for people checking in online, and they provide a faster, more accurate way to verify who someone is versus the use of signatures or other modes of identification.
3 Hotel check-in
ID scanners can make the whole check-in process much easier and faster, and can also be used to verify someone’s identification and ensure that it matches the booking information. Hotels often need to be able to cross check the details you provided when booking your stay against the details you give when booking. They also need to watch out for minors coming to stay at their establishment, and an ID scanner will help determine the age of anyone attempting to mislead them.
4 Rental services
One of the biggest sectors in the tourism industry is car rental services. When renting anything, it’s often mandatory for the company to obtain your personal details. An ID scanner can quickly gather a lot of information about a person including age—as there are age restrictions for car rentals in most countries—where they are from, if they are legally allowed to drive, and so on.
This credibility is the backbone of the industry and if too many rules are broken everyone is at risk. The United States brings in roughly USD$ 214 billion from tourism alone, while the whole world contributes USD$ 9.25 trillion to the global economy through tourism. This money is the kind of revenue no one would want to lose. (2) (3)
5 Stopping fraud
At the end of the day people do bad things and it can have a negative and possibly dangerous impact. When you travel, the chances of you being the victim of something such as fraud are much greater. There are people out there that look out for tourists, use their lack of local knowledge to their advantage, and steal from them. If you have reported a stolen ID, and it’s used by someone who has attempted to steal your identity, a good ID scanner will be able to see this ID has been flagged as stolen.
Also, if any establishment suspects suspicious behavior of a patron, they might be able to cross check their credit card details against their ID and if they do not match, the authorities can be called in to deal with the situation.
Final thoughts
ID scanners ultimately make the process of traveling easier for both travelers and the industry too. They make it easier to check IDs as necessary, and to help maintain and implement any rules and regulations necessary to comply with local laws.
References
- “Global and regional tourism performance,” Source: https://www.unwto.org/global-and-regional-tourism-performance
- “International Tourism Highlights, 2019 Edition,” Source: https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284421152
- “Global tourism industry – statistics & facts,” Source: https://www.statista.com/topics/962/global-tourism/
