ABTA offers clarity and reassurance as EES rollout begins
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simplesamlphp_… Thu, 10/16/2025 - 13:52
Sunday saw the launch of the EU Entry/Exit System, which is digitising the borders of 29 European countries and will require people to provide facial scans and fingerprints when going through the border.
While Sunday may have been day one of the new system, EES will be rolled out over a period of six months; during that time the number of border crossings using EES will increase, as will the number of passengers completing the checks at each border, including providing the biometric information.
There doesn't yet appear to have been any significant disruption, which is perhaps as to be expected given we are at the beginning of the rollout with relatively few locations operating the system.
However, we continue to remain in close contact with the UK Government and the EU, as well as overseas destinations and transport hubs in the UK with juxtaposed borders, to make sure we have the latest on how the rollout is progressing and can feed back essential information to members.
This follows on from the work we have been doing in recent years to prepare members for EES, and provide advice to customers.
Over the past month, our advice page on abta.com has been viewed 150,000 times – making it the second most popular page on our website, and our social media activity has been viewed over 330,000 times.
We’ve also been working hard to provide advice, clarity and reassurance through the national media, where we know there has been much speculation about the impact on travel.
In my statement on Friday, which was reported in over 20 media outlets, I highlighted that while EES may take longer initially, it will eventually speed up the process and make travel easier.
In total, ABTA has appeared in over 200 pieces of media coverage over the last week on EES, including across BBC national and regional broadcasts on Sunday.
A reminder that members can access ABTA’s insight on EES, as well as the Government’s communications toolkit, in the ABTA Member Zone.
We’ll also be talking to members about EES at WTM - find out more here.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Edward Byrne to the ABTA Board. He is taking over from Jamie Gardiner in representing members with an annual Principal turnover below £50m. I would like to thank Jamie for his hard work and commitment to the ABTA Board over the past years.
I am also pleased Daniele Broccoli is continuing in his role on the Board.
Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive
Continue reading...
Full Page image
simplesamlphp_… Thu, 10/16/2025 - 13:52
Sunday saw the launch of the EU Entry/Exit System, which is digitising the borders of 29 European countries and will require people to provide facial scans and fingerprints when going through the border.
While Sunday may have been day one of the new system, EES will be rolled out over a period of six months; during that time the number of border crossings using EES will increase, as will the number of passengers completing the checks at each border, including providing the biometric information.
There doesn't yet appear to have been any significant disruption, which is perhaps as to be expected given we are at the beginning of the rollout with relatively few locations operating the system.
However, we continue to remain in close contact with the UK Government and the EU, as well as overseas destinations and transport hubs in the UK with juxtaposed borders, to make sure we have the latest on how the rollout is progressing and can feed back essential information to members.
This follows on from the work we have been doing in recent years to prepare members for EES, and provide advice to customers.
Over the past month, our advice page on abta.com has been viewed 150,000 times – making it the second most popular page on our website, and our social media activity has been viewed over 330,000 times.
We’ve also been working hard to provide advice, clarity and reassurance through the national media, where we know there has been much speculation about the impact on travel.
In my statement on Friday, which was reported in over 20 media outlets, I highlighted that while EES may take longer initially, it will eventually speed up the process and make travel easier.
In total, ABTA has appeared in over 200 pieces of media coverage over the last week on EES, including across BBC national and regional broadcasts on Sunday.
A reminder that members can access ABTA’s insight on EES, as well as the Government’s communications toolkit, in the ABTA Member Zone.
We’ll also be talking to members about EES at WTM - find out more here.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Edward Byrne to the ABTA Board. He is taking over from Jamie Gardiner in representing members with an annual Principal turnover below £50m. I would like to thank Jamie for his hard work and commitment to the ABTA Board over the past years.
I am also pleased Daniele Broccoli is continuing in his role on the Board.
Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive
Continue reading...
