Government officials welcomed kiosks that help migration agents process international passengers at Mexico’s three busiest airports.
The technology is meant to shorten lines at passport control centers.
“As visitors to international airports grow, the needs of migration agents grow and that is something that does not make sense when we have technology to help us with that challenge,” said Tourism Secretary Enrique de la Madrid Cordero.
The turn toward automation began with 100 kiosks, costing US$76 million. Mexico City and Cancun each have 40 kiosks and 20 are at Los Cabos.
Thirty percent of the 68 million passengers arriving in Mexico annually come to the nation’s capital.
“Only last year 39 million visitors came from abroad, of which 18 million did it by plane, which explains the 80 percent of income that Mexico receives from tourism. The air visitor is essential to improve the living standards of the people,” Madrid Cordero said.
Migration agents work four times as fast once a kiosk captures fingerprints and passport information.
Kiosks work in seven languages and operate under international standards for handicap access. First-time users will get through the process in approximately one minute, and subsequently in 10 to 15 seconds.
Only in the trial period that began in January, the kiosks generated 267,981 passenger entry records across the three terminals.
The three airports in which the 100 kiosks were put into operation received over 34,000 international passengers, representing 75 percent of all foreign visitors in Mexico.
Source: La Jornada Maya
