Tech ‘can open up more borders’

A suite of technology is being developed to help manage the COVID risk and allow international borders to reopen.

Elenium Automation chief executive Aaron Hornlimann with the company’s touchless check-in machines. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Greater use of new technology is being promoted as the key to fast-tracking more international travel bubbles, rather than waiting for the vaccination rollout.

The heads of tech firms Elenium Automation and goPassport say the only impediment to more quarantine-free travel is government policy.

They say the technology is available to manage the COVID risk through testing, screening and tracking of travellers.

Elenium chief executive Aaron Hornlimann said things such as rapid COVID testing, travel passports, tracing apps, bio­metrics and contactless health screening should give authorities the confidence to allow more international movement. “Airports are a multi-stakeholder environment; there’s the airlines, the airport authority and the government.

“If they all used technology together, they could put together a safe ‘firewall’ in a travel bubble and minimise the risk of having outbreaks,” he said.

“That’s what everyone needs to start looking towards — how can we have safe travel bubbles so we can encourage our borders to open up more quickly?”

Elenium’s contactless health screening units are already in use at Abu Dhabi Airport and in aged-care facilities around the world, checking users’ temperature, heart and respiratory rates.

Contactless check-in facilities and biometrics to identify high-risk travellers as they moved through airports also existed, Mr Hornlimann said.

“That should be able to create safe travel bubbles where we can at least have partnerships with Singapore and Hong Kong happen more quickly,” he said.

A number of travel passports are already being trialled to consolidate the owner’s health information in one app.

An Australian product, goPassport goes a step further by unravelling the complexity of travel for users through education and advice for users based on their whereabouts, and ensuring their compliance with local health laws.

Founder and managing director Matt McKinley said he was hopeful goPassport could help ­reopen international borders. “It’s all about visibility and compliance,” he said.

“If we know the people who are coming through are compliant, that’s going to help reduce the risk to the community.

“It’s really about us as an ­industry being able to demonstrate we have the tools and we can manage travellers.”

Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Peter Shelley said it was encouraging to see the sophisticated technology being developed and he was hopeful governments would recognise its value.

“We need to find a way to allay risk by implementing technology that will give us confidence,” Mr Shelley said.

Australian Airports Association chief executive James Goodwin said the bubble with New Zealand showed inter­national travel could safely resume without a vaccine passport.

“There are a range of other COVIDSafe nations Australia could be working with to develop a similar bubble, including Singapore and many of the ­Pacific Island nations,” Mr Goodwin said.

“We need to start reconnecting global business partners, attracting seasonal agricultural workers and international students, and increasing the ­capacity for Australians to return home.”