A system overhaul at all UK borders
At Dover, entire coach halls are being built with kiosks to register passenger details, while cars and other vehicles will be met by an agent with a tablet. It is estimated that the additional border controls at Dover will double from 45-90 seconds to a couple of minutes per person, while Eurotunnel has estimated that the processing time of a car at Folkestone could rise to seven minutes on average. At St Pancras, the international departures hall is being entirely rebuilt to accommodate the new border and security systems.
A spokesperson for Discover Ferries, the industry body for the passenger ferry industry, said: “The ferry industry is concerned that the lack of clarity around the incoming EU EES will cause confusion, unnecessary queues at borders and potentially delay booking trips. This could negatively impact operators, ports and customers’ travel experience.”
There are hopes that an app, under development by the EU, could allow for pre-registration to be completed at home, but it is not expected to be ready by October.
Tourists advised to swerve the EU
Right now, there is little that British holidaymakers can do to prepare for EES, other than to factor more time into their travel plans this autumn. Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of the Advantage Travel Partnership, said: “We do advise travellers to be prepared in case of delays on their first trip to any of the 29 European countries involved in the new system as they will need to have their fingerprints and facial images taken.”
All of the above might be news to some. A study by Co-op insurance showed that two thirds of UK adults are unaware of the EES system. Of those that knew about the border changes, 22 per cent were “put off” travelling to the EU because of it, while 46 per cent said they didn’t like the idea of their data being captured and remaining in the system for up to three years.
Some are advising holidaymakers to sidestep the EU entirely while the new EES and ETIAS systems settle, particularly after the spate of e-gate failures at British airports, including a nationwide outage in May this year. Paul Charles, CEO of the PC Agency, has previously warned travellers to avoid booking any travel to the affected EU countries during the period when the new computer systems are phased in.
But Andrea Godfrey says the EES rollout needn’t mean halting all travel: “There are a number of countries – including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo in our portfolio – that will fall outside of [EES] and are very beautiful, interesting and welcoming. I hope they see an increase in UK visitors. They should certainly take it as an opportunity.”