DRV publishes white paper on the EUDI Wallet – companies should set the course now.
Digital identity is on the rise, and with it, the digitization of identity verification is poised for a fundamental transformation. At the heart of this development is the EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet).
This is a standardized, government-recognized digital wallet that allows digital identities, credentials, and authorizations to be securely stored and managed. With the EUDI Wallet and the eIDAS 2.0 Regulation—the updated EU regulation for electronic identification and trust services—a Europe-wide, uniform infrastructure for digital identities is taking shape.
The new white paper “Digital Identity in Tourism – EU Digital Identity Wallet and eIDAS 2.0” by the German Travel Association (DRV)—developed by the association’s IT Committee to provide guidance for companies in the travel industry—explains what this means for the travel industry and how companies can prepare for it early on. The paper was authored primarily by Alexander Breitkreuz (Dertour), Jörg Götz (Vtours), Nicole Ludwig (LMX), and Oliver Rengelshausen (Travel Perspectives). The white paper is now available for download by DRV member companies at drv.de in the “Digitalization” section.
“The EUDI Wallet is far more than a technical innovation. It is transforming the way identities will be verified and processed throughout the entire customer journey in the future,” explains Nicole Ludwig, Chair of the DRV IT Committee. “In the coming years, digital identity will become as commonplace as online tickets or digital boarding passes are today. The travel industry now has the opportunity to rethink its processes while better meeting travelers’ expectations for convenience, security, and data protection.”
Hardly any other industry relies as heavily on the secure processing of identity data as the tourism sector. At the same time, numerous media breaks, repeated data entry, and manual verification processes still create additional work and increase the risk of errors. The EU Digital Identity Wallet offers the opportunity to make these processes significantly more efficient, secure, and customer-friendly in the future.
The white paper explains the regulatory framework, outlines the technological foundations of the wallet, and highlights specific use cases—from travel booking, check-in, and boarding to hotel registration and other tourism services throughout a trip. It also identifies opportunities, challenges, and recommendations for tour operators, travel agencies, business travel providers, and tourism technology companies.
In addition to discussing the impact on business processes and IT architectures, the white paper offers specific recommendations for preparing for the upcoming changes. Even though the mandatory acceptance of the wallet in certain areas will not take effect until the coming years, the technological and organizational groundwork must be laid today.
The German Travel Association (DRV) is actively supporting this development. As part of the DRV-STRING project, the association is already working on integrating wallet-based identity data into tourism booking processes. The goal is to collaborate with member companies to develop practical and interoperable solutions for the industry.
