A Trip to Paradise Shouldn’t Be Delayed by Long Lines
Cyprus is one of the world’s leading tourist destinations, attracting about four million people every year. Those numbers of course dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, but when travel resumed, vacationers were excited to take in the beautiful weather, stunning beaches and everything else Cyprus has to offer. There was just one thing delaying tourists during their trips to paradise — long and slow-moving lines at the border.
With some travel restrictions still in place when the country opened back up, visitors needed to show proof of a recent COVID-19 vaccination when they arrived at the island. Visitors were checked at airports and ports against the European Union’s Digital COVID Certificate (EU DCC). They could even be asked to show proof in busy public places, like supermarkets or restaurants.
Unfortunately, safety didn’t translate to speed. Police officers and other officials used smartphones to access the EU DCC mobile app to scan visitor passes, an often time-consuming and error-prone process. The phone had to be positioned “just right” to read QR codes, and failed reads were common. Batteries died quickly and the devices wore down since they weren’t built for constant day-to-day use. Meanwhile, many anxious would-be vacationers spent time waiting in line rather than enjoying some R&R.
The government of Cyprus noticed there was a problem and reached out to Zebra Premier Solution Partner, Datatech, to find a fix. It didn’t take long to pinpoint a way to quickly and accurately move visitors through the queue and straight to the beach. Check out what they did:
Cyprus Accelerates Visitor Checks with Zebra’s Rugged Mobile Computers
Though the vaccination verifications have recently been suspended, there is a lot to be learned from the way Cyprus officials approached, and solved, this daunting problem for the sake of its economy, citizens, and visitors alike.
Slow-moving lines might not be standing in the way of our vacation, but they might be causing pain points for your business – or your customers (who expect things to move fast). So, once you’ve read all about how Cyprus officials enhanced the vacation experience for its visitors, reach out to us to see how we can help you remove obstacles to your growth and customers’ happiness.
Oliver Ledgard
Oliver Ledgard joined Zebra in 2017 and is currently the EMEA Government and Public Safety Lead at Zebra where he is responsible for focusing on mobile digitisation, critical communication and asset visibility solutions into Government entities to help drive efficiencies and connectivity for their workforces. Previously, Oliver was responsible for driving the tablet portfolio sales in EMEA and joined the EMEA Strategy team in 2023, in which he assumed his current role.
Oliver has more than 20 years of experience within the mobile computing and carrier industry having worked for Panasonic and Telefonica prior to Zebra. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Studies from Solent University in England.
