PETALING JAYA: Tourism industry players have called for stringent regulation and protection to combat the increasing number of scams using Artificial Intelligence (AI) with travellers and hoteliers as targets.
Despite these scams on the rise, Malaysia Budget & Business Hotel Association president Dr Sri Ganesh Michiel said that such cases were rare in Malaysia due to hoteliers and online travel agencies’ working together closely - but still remains a topic of concern.
According to The Star, Sri Ganesh emphasised the urgency of the issue, calling for the government to intervene by implementing regulations on online travel agencies, also including AirBnB operators, which the majority are based globally.
He mentioned the need for clear procedures in collecting personal data for domestic and international travel bookings to hamper fake reservations, made up accommodations and phishing schemes enabled through external links and risky APK downloads.
Sri Ganesh then noted leading travel website Booking.com’s methods of implementing strict link policies and two-step identifications.
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Besides that, a report by the Booking.com chief information security officer has raised concerns of a spike in worldwide phishing attacks by utilising the power of AI, creating “realistic” emails, thus tricking consumers into submitting sensitive data such as banking information or other types of personal information.
Sri Ganesh added that hoteliers, aside from individual operators in Malaysia have been closely coordinating with online travel platforms such as Traveloka and Booking.com to handle the issue at hand, thereby effectively addressing these matters.
Industry stakeholders are educated on spotting the latest tactics employed by scammers and detecting possible fraudulent emails before clicking on any link provided, for instance.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Association of Hotels president Datin Christina Toh said that smaller industry players may be prone to scams compared to larger chains that have the necessary cybersecurity support provided.
She also brought up how vital the response speed of online travel agencies is to manage these issues, driving home the necessity of cooperation between online travel agencies and hoteliers in “maintaining online security and trust”, as quoted, in the tourism sector.
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“Such support is crucial to helping these smaller entities manage and potentially circumvent cyber threats effectively,” she was quoted as saying.
Malaysian Tourism Federation president Datuk Tan Kok Liang was reportedly on board with enhancing protection against these scams through educating workers in the tourism industry on these topics and providing training to combat scammers.
Tan also underscored the need to inform and educate consumers on such scams and guide them on how to “verify the authenticity of communications from the business”, as quoted adding that tourism players should also conduct regular security checks which will help in improving online safety and confidence in financial transactions.
