With less than five months until the massive new privacy regulation known as GDPR goes into effect, travel technology buyers say compliance with the complicated rules is their biggest challenge of 2018.
That’s one of the results from a survey of 135 travel buyers conducted by the organizers of Travel Technology Europe, a conference February 21 to 22 in London.
GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation, goes into effect May 25 and is intended to allow all residents of the European Union to have more control over their personal data.
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Compliance is required by all companies that process and collect data of EU residents, regardless of the company’s location, with stiff fines imposed for infringement.
Following GDPR compliance, the top technical challenges for 2018 include managing IATA's New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiative, keeping up with competitors and ensuring online booking systems and websites are up to date.
And while GDPR is top of mind, 71% of respondents indicate they are confident or very confident that they’re on track to handle the new privacy requirements.
“GDPR is undoubtedly a challenge, and while some buyers are unsure of their strategy, there is still time to get it right,” says David Chapple, event director for Travel Technology Europe.
European Traveler Technology Survey 2017
When asked how they intend to spend technology budgets this year, buyers say that systems to handle content marketing, payments and guest-facing experiences will be priorities.
Further down their list of intended expenditures is technology related to artificial intelligence, virtual reality and blockchain, with 24% of buyers saying they are considering investing in technology to support Bitcoin in the next five years.
As to barriers limiting their technology goals, buyers say limited budgets and resources are the biggest impediments, followed by issues with existing infrastructure and slow adoption levels of new technologies.