Many travel companies are in breach of European, US and international data protection laws without knowing it, a new report claims.
The study into the state of data privacy within the travel industry by compliance technology company Compliant warned that firms must balance the increasing demand for data with rising consumer expectations of transparency, choice and control.
Regulatory scrutiny has intensified in digital marketing putting privacy compliance at the top of agendas.
The company said: “A marked shift in regulatory enforcement means that compliance failures are being met with aggressive fines; to date, more than €1.7 billion in GDPR fines have been levied, with fines rising 40% in 2020-21.
“Data protection authorities started with big tech, before moving on to adtech, and now their sights are on businesses across many sectors, including travel.
“And the fines represent just a fraction of the real cost to business – forensic investigations, external legal fees, improved security measures, lost data, reputational damage, and loss of employee confidence all add up.”
The report found that the average travel site contains 16 piggybacked tags. These are third-party tags that are making data calls but are often not authorised or placed within the site by the domain owner.
European publishers have made important efforts to reduce the number of data resellers within their sites since GDPR was enacted, yet travel sites on average still contain multiple unauthorised data resellers, according to the Compliant research.
Chief executive Jamie Barnard said: “The lack of transparency in the digital media supply chain means that travel companies have limited visibility of the intermediaries operating on or through their websites, making the ongoing detection and management of unlawful and unethical data practices a significant challenge.
“Our 2022 audit report, ‘Data Privacy: The Compliance Illusion’ is the largest evaluation of digital marketing compliance ever undertaken, covering over 86% of all European web traffic.
“The results are a wake-up call for the industry, with travel brands and publishers exposing themselves to regulatory and reputational risk.”