Dubai: Already wheeling around at Dubai Airport, the Mobile Amer Smart Service answers any immigration-related inquiries that travellers might have. The mobile device features a screen which allows employees of the Amer Service to stream live and personally tend to their needs.
“Travellers seem to love interacting with the device as its extremely efficient and a novel medium for customer service. It features a camera, a screen and sensors to avoid colliding into people. It also has a battery life of about 6 hours, which is impressive given its capabilities,” Captain Salem Bin Ali, Manager of the Amer Customer Care Section at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affair (GDRFA-Dubai) said on Tuesday.
He was speaking at the Arabian Travel Market, being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre until May 7, where the Mobile Amer Smart Service (MASS) was being exhibited.
“The Mobile Amer connects to the Wi-Fi network at the airport, so an Amer employee could be sitting at the other end of the airport and tend to whatever immigration-related questions a traveller may have by streaming live into the device,” he said, “Inquiries about visa-procedures seem to be most common.”
Captain Ali said the department currently has only one Mass at its disposal but has plans of bringing in more.
“We have plans of using more of the Mobile Amer Smart Service,” he said, “for now, the device circulates between Dubai Airport, the GDRFA headquarters and exhibitions. We’d like to have more of them to deploy in shopping malls.
GDRFA-Dubai is also offering free registration for the smart gate at the Arabian Travel Market.
The Smart Gate is designed to ensure quick passenger clearance at the Dubai Airports via smart card and biometric verification, shortening the immigration process to about 10 seconds.
There are no previous requirements necessary for the registration. Residents can register at the GDRFA booth in the exhibition by electronically submitting their passport information, fingerprints and eye scan.
A survey conducted by GDRFA-Dubai on the second day of the Arabian Travel Market revealed a 90 per cent satisfaction rate from the exhibition’s visitors about Amer services, the smart gate, and the Mobile Amer Smart Service.
Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director General of GDRFA, said the exhibition was a good opportunity for government departments to showcase their services.
“We are expecting more tourists to enter Dubai and this exhibition is a chance for all concerned departments to showcase their services and promote tourism in the country,” he said.
