UWI Lecturer Stresses Importance of Cyber Security for Tourism

With tourism increasingly relying on digital technologies, Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Dr. Yonique Campbell has urged global tourism players to implement key security measures to protect the sector from cybercrime.

Focusing on the regulatory architecture, Dr. Campbell notes that “any threats to tourism that contributes as much as 30% to GDP in some Caribbean countries, and which has interlinkages to so many other sectors, including transportation for example, ought to be subject to robust discussions among industry, government, academics, international players, and to continuous research.”

Dr. Campbell was one of five panellists examining the topic: “Cybersecurity, Privacy and Security: Measures for Protecting Digital Infrastructure in Tourism” at the 3rd Global Tourism Resilience Conference held at Princess Grand Jamaica from February 17 to 19, 2025.

In recent times hotels, airlines, and travel websites have experienced numerous cyber-attacks and according to digital travel company, Booking.com, there has been a 900% increase in travel scams, primarily driven by the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by criminals. Experts add that the problem is compounded by a limited use of threat protection mechanisms by online users, sometimes because they have limited awareness of the extent of the threat. With this in mind Dr. Campbell implied that “perhaps the regulatory system ought to contemplate that as well.”

Against this background, Dr. Campbell says:

“The threat of cybercrime looms large for tourism in states that are already quite vulnerable.”

“And part of the problem is that cybercrimes have obviously damaged trust and puts the reputation of the tourism sector at risk, and we can’t afford that especially in small island developing states.”

She also argued that the Caribbean has a large number of American and European visitors, intensifying the risk and the consequences in the event of a breach. Dr. Campbell outlined that governments, by investing in a robust and resilient architecture, can improve protection for the tourism sector against cybercrimes, including “a zero-tolerance approach, place emphasis on contingency planning, tough penalties for serious breaches, continuously build out technical skills and build human resource capacity.”

She noted that cybersecurity has become increasingly important as technological innovation continues to move at a rapid pace, causing tourism businesses to rely more on technology. Dr. Campbell said this “has made the tourism sector increasingly reliant on and made to be more efficient as a result of this technology, but this technology also makes the tourism sector extremely susceptible to cybercrime.”

Dr. Campbell highlighted several forms of cybercrime and reminded her international audience that “the motivation is not always commercial. Cybercrimes could be politically motivated as well and it makes the picture more complicated in terms of coming up with a formidable and robust regulatory architecture.

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