Cyber crime is biggest threat, says Deloitte expert
Cyber crime is the number one risk for the travel industry, according to an expert from Deloitte.
Speaking at Wednesday’s Barclays Travel Forum in London, global lead partner travel and aviation Graham Pickett said travel companies need to protect themselves.
"Personally I think this is the number one concern," he said.
"The crime guys are getting smarter and smarter by the day and meanwhile the industry is getting more and more into big data and outsourcing to more IT suppliers. We’re definitely seeing increased reliance on IT, full stop.
"To cap it all, we’ve got data protection legislation coming down heavy with sizeable fines. This is definitely something we need to focus on."
Earlier this month, the City of London Police announced that holiday fraud was up by a fifth. They said fraudsters stole £7.2 million from holidaymakers last year using a number of different scams, including online booking fraud.
Giving an economic overview for the industry, Pickett also outlined other challenges, including uncertainty surrounding Brexit, terrorism, airline over capacity and the growing number of false sickness claims by UK holidaymakers.
"Things are not going that well," he told delegates.
"There’s a bumpy ride ahead but there is opportunity out there if you get the consumer trends right."
However, a survey of the 300-plus delegates at the Barclays event found they remained relatively upbeat.
Half (51%) said they expect Brits to travel the same this year than last and 27% said they expected people to travel more.
The figures dipped to 49% and 21% respectively when delegates were asked about 2018.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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