The Border Crossing Edition

Colin here. In the before times, I had the privilege of crossing borders nearly friction-free. I had signed up for a few of the Global Entry-like services in the countries I frequented—the UK, for instance, let US travelers register with their Border Force, and in turn, get to use the resident lines. In Dubai and Abu Dhabi, you could pre-register for the e-gates. Same with Singapore. Mexico had a shaky, but somewhat serviceable, Viajero Confiable system. Most of the awkward and clunky border crossings were to be expected based on locale, or places that required visas to enter. I wasn’t bothered to spend a bit more time in line to get into Zimbabwe or Lebanon. 

Now, it is as if the world has gone back in time. The amount of paperwork required to cross a border is stifling. Some are easier than others—Costa Rica and Mexico let you use an app called Verifly to pre-authorize your documents, negative tests, and vaccination certificates. But it is still an arduous process and one where the average traveler is left struggling to catch up at the airport, clogging up the check-in. Also, gone are the days of mobile boarding passes for international travel and bypassing any departure queues. Everything today requires face-to-face interaction, which, in times of staff cuts, means that many of these places are critically understaffed even as travel in some places comes roaring back. 

I recently landed in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, where travelers needed to (i) show their pre-paid forms for the rapid test (ii) show their pre-arranged visa forms (iii) take a rapid test, and then clear immigration. Add a network outage just as a KLM 787 disgorged its passengers onto the tarmac, this went about as well as you could predict. 

For a country that needs tourism, from adventurers heading into the bush, to people trying to summit the nearby Kilimanjaro, the initial experience was a bit rough, especially for those in the back of the line. Later, to enter the recently reopened Doha in Qatar, I had to pre-send vaccination cards and negative COVID tests procured in Tanzania, fill out several forms, and wait for authorization. At the airport, there were additional riders not previously disclosed: health attestation sheets, as well as the need to download an app and pick up a Qatari sim-card on arrival to validate everything with a one-time password. Their Ehteraz app will track movements and location, turning yellow if you are suspected to be in contact with anyone tested positive, thus limiting entrance to public spaces, restaurants, and cafes. And who knows what other data is being collected. Perhaps a burner phone for the new surveillance states is the new must-have accessory? 

Why is this interesting? 

Widespread vaccine adoption was seen as the thing to kick start vital tourism to countries that desperately need the revenue. But the re-opening is being built on a hodgepodge of systems that don’t seem to be speaking to one another, with hastily contracted IT. All the while many of these countries have done performative gestures for perception and PR: think airport cleaning robots and hygiene theatre. 

What is actually required for the new normal of crossing borders while living with COVID is government coordination, user experience, simplicity, and accessibility when it comes to registering and sharing data. The best countries with the smartest, most streamlined approaches will win out. Those that can’t get their act together will develop a reputation for such, and these places that make it hard to visit, or cumbersome, will lose out on the impending wave of travel. Just like excessive regulation can strangle a business, shoddy IT, reams of paperwork, and zero coordination can strangle a country’s tourism recovery. (CJN) 

Video of the day: 

People jamming to Kraftwerk on Detroit’s New Dance Show (CJN)

Quick Links:

• Peddling through forests on old railroad tracks (CJN) 

• Cool profile of surf brand Mami Wata (CJN)

• BBSP profiled in Vanity Fair (CJN)

Thanks for reading,

Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN)

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