What Does the Digital Travel Credential Market Look Like for Different Travel Sectors?

Digital travel credentials (DTC) are emerging as the bridge between today’s physical passport model and the future of secure, seamless, pre-verified travel. While governments remain central to issuance and trust, the opportunity extends across airports, border control, airlines and the wider travel ecosystem.

Government Adoption Expands in Key Segments

Government adoption is emerging as a key driver of the DTC market, as border authorities increasingly explore digital credentials to modernise traveller processing. Supported by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards and wider digital identity initiatives, governments are moving from pilot programmes toward operational deployments; creating demand for credential issuance, identity orchestration solutions and verification.

Verification Touchpoints Multiply

Within aviation, the total volume of digital travel credential verification checks is anticipated to rise from 761 million in 2027 to 8.1 billion by 2035. While aviation continues to account for the largest share of digital travel credential verification checks, rapid growth across land borders, rail, maritime, indicates that DTCs are also evolving into a broader cross-border identity infrastructure.

Aviation is the primary moving ground for DTCs due to identity checks being central to the international air journey; leveraging existing biometric infrastructure already deployed across border control environments. DTCs have multiple use cases including pre-travel identity verification, security screening, boarding, immigration processing and eGate interaction. As adoption extends beyond aviation into rail, maritime and land border environments, the number of potential verification events per traveller is expected to increase significantly; supporting growth in overall DTC verification volume.

The Future of Cross-border Interoperability

The long-term success of digital travel credentials will depend on the development of interoperable cross-border ecosystems. ICAO standards are providing a foundation for global credential recognition; enabling border authorities to verify trusted credentials issued by foreign governments. As international trust frameworks mature and digital wallet ecosystems expand, DTCs can be expected to support the seamless travel objective across multiple jurisdictions and transport modes; accelerating global adoption.

Source: Digital Travel Credential Market: 2026-2035

Read the Press Release: Digital Travel Credentials: 1.2 Billion Passengers to Adopt DTCs Globally by 2035, Fuelled by Passenger Demand for Seamless Journeys

Download the Whitepaper: Beyond the Boarding Pass: The Digital Travel Credential Paradigm