There are different points of view about the value of passports, with some maintaining that they are a required, while others see them only as a hindrance to being able to travel freely. Both opinions will now be presented.
The use of passports can be said to have value in that it allows for government to monitor the number of citizens and visitors in a country at any one time, thus being better able to calculate requirements for spending on public services such as education and healthcare. Statistics that can be gathered from the use of passports can also be valuable with regards estimating tourism revenue.
On the other hand, the ability to travel between countries can be seriously impacted be the requirement for passports and in some cases for visas. Travel around the European Union, for example, is now extremely easy for citizens of member states, but from people outside the Union, it can still be a costly and time-consuming exercise to get the relevant paperwork.
Considering both points, it seems that the better solution would be the maintaining of a travel document but a relaxation of the requirement for visas and other peripheral paperwork. If people could travel and simply show their travel document, then statistics could be maintained but time-consuming application and costly administration could be reduced, allowing people to travel with far greater ease.
In sum, it seems that there is a valid purpose for some form of documentation, but if this can be minimised it would encourage wider mobility for people from certain countries that can at the present time be difficult to travel from.
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