New EU entry rules could hit British holiday bookings to Mallorca

Concerns about increased queuing and document checks under the new Entry/Exit System (EES)

Worries about longer queues at EU border controls. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

Humphrey CarterPalma25/06/2024 12:17

The new EES which is due to be introduced in Autumn 2024 by the European Union could put Britons off travelling popular EU destinations like Spain, France, Italy and Greece, according to a survey by the Department of Transport. The EES is an automated IT system for registering non-European Union nationals, such as the UK, when they cross a border into certain European countries. Travellers will be subject to additional biometric data collection processes, including the collection of fingerprints and facial photographs, when undergoing border checks prior to crossing the border. This happens at the point of travelling, and does not need to be organised in advance.

The Department for Transport’s poll, which surveyed 1,584 individuals aged 16 and above, highlighted concerns primarily about increased queuing and document checks under the new EES.
According to the results of the survey, Awareness of the EES amongst the respondents to NTAS wave 10 was generally low, with 69% hearing about this for the first time in the NTAS survey, and 4% saying that they had heard of it and knew a lot about it.

All respondents were asked if the EES would make them more or less likely to travel to Europe in the next 2 years, compared to now. Respondents who said that they would travel to Europe the same, or less, after the introduction of EES, were presented options about what, if anything, could concern them about the system.

The majority of these respondents, 67%, said they were concerned about more queuing or document checking when departing from the UK. Slightly fewer (59%) were concerned about the amount of time or effort needed to complete the initial registration for travel into Europe.
Just less than a third (31%) were concerned about the collection of fingerprints, and fewer (26%) concerned about the collection of facial photographs. A minority (15%) were not concerned about any of the options presented.

All respondents were further asked what the likelihood was of them travelling internationally for leisure in the next 12 months. The majority (70%) of respondents said that it was likely that they would make such a trip, however this was related to whether they had made a trip in the last 12 months. Of those who said they were very unlikely to make an international trip for leisure in the next 12 months, 92% said they had travelled zero times in the last 12 months. By comparison, of those who said that it was very likely they would make such a trip in the next 12 months, 38% had made three or more trips in the previous 12 months. 49 percent said they could not afford a trip abroad and 40 percent said they prefer travelling in the UK.